approaching North

I'm Still Here...

2011-04-17T19:05:00.003-04:00

If you still follow blogs, and are subscribed to mine, let me know. I'm hoping to start writing again in about 3 to 4 weeks when I graduate. Post a comment here to indicate you're interested in following our lives and thoughts...

I'll Never Forget It. Ever. (METS Part 1)

2010-07-04T16:54:00.014-04:00

From May 15th through June 7th, I was blessed with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go on a very unique seminar to the Middle East including the countries of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt (Sinai), Israel, and finishing in Greece (METS). The nature of this trip was quite unique in that it involved an almost entirely academic group of participants from a very wide spectrum of theological positions: 6 seminaries sent 24 students on this trip-Duke, Candler, McAfee, Immanuel, Columbia, and Southern. In addition to the students, 6 lay people came on the trip as well as 2 Old Testament scholars (Dr. Max Miller and Dr. Steve McKenzie) who led us.

Any trip to anywhere with that much diversity of opinion on the Bible and all things related is bound to challenge your thinking as well as test your patience and humility. Then imagine taking that bunch to the most historically controversial areas in history and you can quickly see why one would say, "I'll never forget it. Ever."

There are so many aspects of this trip that I would love to write about such as how I ended up on this trip, what my family went through to make this happen, what I learned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (and what I didn't learn), why hermeneutics affects everything, what it means to be a feminist, why the atonement is so offensive, etc., etc., etc... But for most people I've been talking to--they just want to know where I went and want to see the pictures. So let's start with that...

First--the pictures: We have a website set up for all of the participants to share their pictures together. Some of us have uploaded our pictures, others are getting around to it. You can view my favorite pictures here, all of my pictures here, and everyone else's pictures here.

Second--where I went. Here's the whole sha-bang:

May 15-16	Orientation in Decatur, Georgia
May 17	Departure—from Atlanta to Washington DC to Vienna
May 18	Arrived in Vienna around 10:30 AM and departed for Damascus, Syria Arrived in Damascus in the late afternoon. Checked in at the Cham Hotel and went for a scenic view of the city. Finished the evening in a revolving restaurant overlooking Damascus.
May 19	Full day in Damascus Al-Hamidiyah Souq (the market/bazaar) Azem’s Palace Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque Al-Zahiriyah Library (brief—did not get to go into the library) Tomb of Saladin Umayyad Mosque Traditional site of St. Ananias House Damascus Museum—ancient artifacts including Ugarit artifacts Evening visit from Mona Muhanna (Syrian Melkite Christian)
May 20	Lebanon day excursion Baalbek, Lebanon—Ruins from Roman temples and Byzantine churches On to Hama, Syria for overnight, checked in at Orient House Hotel
May 21	Brief tour of Hama Al Nouri Zanki mosque (only visited outside) Norias (Roman water wheels) Apamea—Ruins of Roman city Krak des Chesvaliers—toured 12^th century Crusader castle Checked in at the Al Wadi Hotel in Meshtayeh, Syria
May 22	Travelled from western Syria to the center—Palmyra, city of the palms Tombs (above and underground) at Palmyra Temple of Bel Ruins of Palmyra Mamluk Castle at Palmyra—watched sunset from castle walls Worship service on top of castle at dusk
May 23	Travelled to Jerash, Jordan Jerash ruins (this was Gerasa of biblical times, one of the Decapolis cities) Spent the night at the Landmark Hotel in Amman, Jordan
May 24	Madaba, Jordan Church of St. George—Mosaic map of biblical events Mt. Nebo—Went to the top where God took Moses to see Promised Land Al Karak, Jordan—toured Kerak Castle (12^th century Crusader castle) Wadi Mujib—vast river (Arnon) canyon dividing biblical Moab from Ammon Shoubak, Jordan—very brief visit outside of Montreal (Crusader) castle Arrived at Maan, Jordan—Grand View Hotel overlooking Petra-area
May 25	Petra. Amazing.
May 26	Travelled from Petra to Aqaba, Jordan at top of Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea Rode ferry across Red Sea gulf to Nuweiba, Egypt Drove across Sinai wilderness to St. Catherine, Egypt—Morgenland Hotel
May 27	Got up at 1am to ride camels up Mt. Jebel Musa (Sinai) Climbed last third of trail up Mt. Sinai to watch sunrise St. Catherine’s Monastery—ancients icons and manuscripts Nuweiba-Taba, Egypt—Stayed at Intercontinental Taba Heights Hotel
May 28	Crossed border into Israel at southernmost tip Travelled the whole day, Arrived in Jericho, West Bank/Israel, Intercontinental Hotel
May 29	Masada Fortress on eastern edge of Judqean Desert overlooking Dead Sea Caves of Qumran where Dead Sea Scrolls were discoveredBobbed in the Dead Sea
May 30	Back in Jericho, Tell es-Sultan—excavation of earliest settlement in Jericho Mt. of Temptation, visited Monastery of the Temptation at top Drove to Galilee region Beit Shean, Israel (ruins of Beth Shean/Scythopolis/Beisan) Mt. Arbel, Galilee—overlooking region of Galilee and city of Tiberias Worship service at Mt. of Beatitudes Guest House, where we lodged as well
May 31	Walked down Mt. of Beatitudes to Church of the Primacy of Peter in Tabgha Church of the Multiplication on the shores of Galilee Capernaum—Peter’s home and synagogue Golan Heights Banias, Israel (biblical Caesarea Philippi—Matt.16), Temple of Pan, waterfall Tell el-Qedah—(biblical Hazor—Joshua 11), largest “tell” in all of Palestine Boat ride across the Sea of Galilee
June 1	Nazareth—morning after IDF commandos attacked aid flotilla Church of the Annunciation (Greek Orthodox) Basilica of the Annunciation (Roman Catholic) Jezreel Valley (very fertile) Megiddo—Solomonic gate, Ahab’s fortress, Early Bronze altar, water tunnel Caesarea Maritima—ruins on Mediterranean coast, events in Acts Drove to Jerusalem to spend the night at the Notre Dame Guest House
June 2	Mt. of Olives panoramic view of Jerusalem Garden of Gethsemane Church of All Nations Walked from there to Old City of Jerusalem entering at the Lion’s Gate St. Anne’s Church (amazing acoustics, Ragan sang “Comfort Ye My People”) Pool of Bethsaida Via Dolorosa —Church of the Flagellation, Church of the Condemnation, Church of Our Lady of the Spasm (Armenian),Church of St. Helen (Coptic), —Church of the Holy Sepulchre—many events in history of this building Lunch at the Arab Orthodox Society—Jerusalem Cultural Center & Museum Free afternoon and evening to roam
June 3	Visit to office of American Jewish Committee—Rabbi David Rosen spoke Israel Museum—scale model of 2^nd Temple-era Jerusalem Shrine of the Book—Codex Aleppo, Dead Sea Scrolls Holocaust Museum Free afternoon & evening to roam (I visited the Western Wall—aka Wailing) Evening visit—Hagit Ofran, heads Settlement Watch Committee., Peace Now
June 4	Garden Tomb Travelled to Bethlehem (not on donkeys) Visited International Center of Bethlehem Presentation by Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church Church of the Nativity
June 5	Departed Jerusalem at 3am for airport at Tel Aviv for flight to Athens Hydrofoil cruise to the island of Hydra Free afternoon and evening on Hydra
June 6	Morning worship service on Hydra Free morning Cruise back to Athens Toured Acropolis and Mars Hill Free late afternoon in Athens Last dinner together, outdoors at restaurant in Athens
June 7	3am departure for Atlanta via Frankfurt, Germany

Ecclesiastes 3:10-11a

2009-06-05T13:35:00.003-04:00

Life's a little hectic lately, plus I haven't had much interest in writing lately. I guess my interests have been directed elsewhere. Such as this... Click Here

Skilled Artisans, We Are

2009-04-23T10:18:00.002-04:00

My “wicked heart will weave an excuse for impenitence out of anything.”

–Ichabod Spencer, A Pastor’s Sketches: Conversations with Anxious Souls Concerning the Way of Salvation (Vestavia Hills, Al.: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2001), 68.

Who Will We Trust?

2009-03-22T16:41:00.003-04:00

This is a must read article: "God Will Provide - Unless the Government Gets There First" by W. Bradford Wilcox

HT: Dr. Mohler

2 Myths from American History

2009-03-12T07:42:00.004-04:00

I'm in the middle of a Church History class this semester, and in my reading lately I was reminded of 2 myths that I used to believe from American History:

Most people came to America for religious liberty.

Mark Noll puts it

The Old Religion in the New World: The History of North American Christianity

The founders of the US Constitution expected the First Amendment to enforce separation of church and state across the country.

How does this change or underscore what you've thought about our history and how does it impact your view of the current conditions of our country?

Questioning Technology's Value in My Life

2009-03-08T22:47:00.004-04:00

What's funny about this is that many people assumed I wanted to stop facebook because of it taking up so much of my life. Actually, I don't spend very much time on it, but my concern, rather, is simply trying to find areas in my life that I can distance myself from technology. The nature of my present job requires that I spend 40 hours a week at the computer. I keep track of my finances using a web tool. I read (actually--scan) many blogs using a reader. I check my email frequently (and now, more than I want, my phone keeps beeping to me that I have a new email [thanks, Maranda!]). And occasionally, I write on my blog. As I was talking with Audrea the other night, we were questioning the real value in much of those activities.

I can't get away from the computer entirely because of my job. The online web tool for my finances saves me incredible amounts of time and assists me greatly in controlling spending and maximizing savings. The email seems to be a necessary evil for communication with school, work, and personal business. Aside from that, everything else could go... and I'm real close to doing that.

When I posted a status that I was considering doing this, some people assumed that it was a self-control/time consumption issue. While that is true for many, for me it's simply a distraction and entertainment source that is not adding much value to my incredibly busy life. Interesting and fun, but not extremely helpful (somewhat, but not incredibly). It seems that several of these things could be eliminated and I wouldn't suffer a bit.

Persuade me otherwise...

The Key to Fighting Bitterness

2009-03-03T05:43:00.004-05:00

Chris Brauns has written a helpful book on forgiveness: Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds. (Crossway 2008, find it here). In it he deals with bitterness and how it can consume you when you've been hurt deeply. Hear his wise counsel on fighting bitterness:

If you feel yourself wrestling with bitterness, then focus more intently on our glorious God. Savor the providence of God. He is in control of all things. He is perfectly just and cannot be unjust. Bitterness begins when we have been treated unfairly. But if we believe that God will accomplish justice, and if we are simultaneously confident that God is working all things together for our good, if that is our center, then we will beat the stuffings out of bitterness every time.

We tend to say things like, "I truly believe that Jesus died for my sins" or "I do believe that God created the world" and with the same heart allow bitterness to overwhelm us. How are those two connected, you ask? Brauns continues:

Do you doubt that God--who is so commited to justice that he sent his only begotten Son to the cross--do you doubt that he will bring justice to its rightful fruition in the end? Do you have any question that God--who spoke all things into existence, numbers the hairs on your head, and determines the times set for you and the exact places where you live--do you have any question that this God will work all things together for your good?

Remember that God works all things out for his glory and our joy. "At your right hand are pleasures evermore."

Free Audio Copy of Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines

2009-03-02T07:23:00.003-05:00

Download - Christianaudio.com

Posted using ShareThis

Win a Free ESV Study Bible in Calfskin Leather!

2009-02-26T07:55:00.005-05:00

Of course, by posting this contest, I reduce my own chances of winning this. But that's okay. My mom gave me a hardback copy of the ESV Study Bible for Christmas so if I don't win, I won't be heartbroken. If I do win, I'll be sharing my ESV Study Bible with a particular young man who is struggling with alcohol abuse and nearly killed himself recently but seems to be very penitent at this time.

You too, can enter this contest by following the instructions here.

UPDATE since this original posting: As I was placing my comment on David's blog, I realized, "Why shouldn't I 'consider others better than myself' and give this young man the leather Bible if I win it? Of course, I should."

Teleportation, Invisibility, and Making the Impossible Possible

2009-02-24T12:33:00.004-05:00

I am listening to a very, very intriguing podcast by Microsoft Technologist, Scott Hanselman, where he interviews Futurist and Theoretical Physicist, Michio Kaku. Dr. Kaku talks about the actual work of teleportation (remember Star Trek?) and invisibility (think Harry Potter's cloak, but not with humans) and other things.

Here he discusses his classification of things that are considered impossible, but he believes are actually possible in some realms and theoretically possible in the future. For instance, they have successfully made a photon teleport underneath the Danube River. Essentially what is necessary for this to happen is to reduce the photon to the amount of enough information required to reconstruct the photon. Given this possibility, people theorize that if we could reduce people down to the information they consist of (i.e. DNA) and be able to reconstruct that DNA, then we should someday be able to teleport someone or clone someone. But as philosophers have observed, this makes huge assumptions that people simply consist of information. The Bible is clear, though, that man consists of a soul and body.

Anyone interested in being the first for this laboratory experiment?

Listen to the interview here.

Things That Should Inspire Awe

2009-02-20T09:18:00.005-05:00

My friend, Devin, has made a very astute observation on her blog. First, you need to go and watch this funny/insightful interview from Conan on her blog.

Now, notice what she said at the end of her post: "True happiness is found nowhere outside of Christ. Period." Devin, you've made the connection that most people haven't: Things that should inspire awe are intended to bring joy. When God gives us Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ, we find our greatest level of happiness.

In reality, though, at this point in eternity, we only get glimpses of God's glory--that which would imbue awe. By His providence He gives us all good things to enjoy in order to point us to Him. So when I enjoy an incredibly tasty meal made by my beautiful wife, I am called to see this as only a shadow of a reflection of God's glory.

But, as this guy (unawaringly), and more awaringly by Devin, has pointed out, we are not seeing that God is good, unimaginably good. We find pleasure in the thing itself for a very brief period and then find that it stops satisfying. And what has been observed in this video is a trend, a downward spiral that is described very clearly in Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of Romans 1:18-23:

But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

What is scary--really, terrifying--is what that passage goes on to say. Read it for yourself here.

We need water to drink that will cause us to never thirst again. We need bread to eat that we can buy without money. I can tell you where we'll find that:

You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Is It Okay to Doubt Your Salvation?

2009-02-19T08:15:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I brought a quote from Will Metzger's Tell the Truth about false assurances of salvation. Today, I want to encourage those who are struggling in their hope of salvation. Metzger goes on to talk about these individuals who think they may have a personal relationship with God, but struggle with assurance of this knowledge. How can they know that they are secure in Christ?

"Again, the kind thing is to bring the sure Word of God, with its infallible promises, alongside the grace they find exists in their changed hearts. The Spirit will then enable believers to say with assurance, 'I am a child of God and will be forever' This great comfort and encouragement does not come through a private revelation of the Spirit (a witness of the Spirit apart from or in addition to the Bible). Assurance is effected not by imparting new revelation to a person's heart, but by applying what is already revealed in Scripture, namely, the truth that believers shall be saved." (p81)

What is Metzger saying? I have been told many times in life that after you "lead someone to the Lord", the next thing you absolutely must do is "give them assurance of their salvation." So you underscore to them that when they begin to doubt this salvation, they should remember that they asked Jesus to save them at this point in time. The eye-opening thing (at least for me) is that Metzger is saying that assurance is not our job.

Metzger goes on to point out that God wants us to be examining our lives to make sure of our calling. "He makes us restless, even to the point of questioning our salvation, so that we may not presume on his favor, but instead, relish his grace." Any confidence we have should be based on the finished work of Christ alone as revealed to us in the Word of God alone. The Bible makes it clear, though, that a result of doing that (placing confidence in the Gospel on a daily basis), will result in a changed life--specifically, patterns of sin in our life will be broken.

"Our eternal security should be focused not on remote past actions but on our present attitude toward Christ. Just as earthly parents can expect physical growth in their children, so we can expect to see a gradual change in the lives of God's children." (p81)

Is It Good to Shatter People's Hope of Salvation?

2009-02-18T07:56:00.002-05:00

UPDATE: I added page # references to the end of these quotes.

Hear this difficult, but necessary word from Will Metzger in his book, Tell The Truth:

Is it kind to shatter a person's hope of salvation? Yes, because without scriptural grounds, it is nothing more than a false hope. A hope of acceptance by God based on such things as going forward in a meeting, praying a suggested prayer, imitating the experience of others, joining a church, attending many Christian meetings, being baptized, studying the Bible regularly, helping others, [being confirmed,] feeling good in a religious service or having a strong conviction that they are right with God is a hope not founded on biblical truths. Perhaps people may trust in the doctrine of election or in theological precision or baptism. They may have a sentimental belief in the general providence of God: "God has been good to me; God will take care of me." Yet people can be involved in any or all of these activities without ever looking to Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord. Without this there is no salvation. Without this there is no assurance. Let us in kindness alert these people to what Christ will say to them on the day of judgment. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (p80-81)" (Matthew 7:21-23)"

Metzger says there are two questions: How do you become a Christian? and How do we know if we are a Christian? The first is answered by, "You become a Christian through repentance toward God and faith in Christ alone as Savior and Lord." The second is answered by looking at your life for these results:

"The first pillar of assurance is a trust in the promises of God as being promises to you. You count them true and take them personally. The second is the beginning of a change in your attitudes and actions corresponding to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) and the marks of salvation (1 John). The third is the inner witness of God's Spirit to your spirit that you are his child (Romans 8)." (p79)

Elayna on Marriage

2009-02-17T08:34:00.003-05:00

Recently we published a cute story about Elayna's very Victorian mindset toward marriage. We don't know where she came up with such strong puritanical views (honestly--we only joke about pre-arranged marriages :), but don't let her fool you. While she may have very high ideals, she's very occupied at the moment with her preparation. I'm having technical difficulties getting the video to embed correctly on the blog, so in the meantime click here to listen to her current issues with marriage.

A Letter From Andrew

2009-02-12T06:00:00.003-05:00

(This was read at his funeral yesterday)

A letter from Andrew to be read after his passing:

A brisk fall afternoon, the bright red and yellow leaves are falling from the trees at Round Lake Park, the sun is shining. I can feel the cool fresh air entering my lungs with every breath. I smell garlic and homemade Italian food in the wind. For you maybe it's a spring day and the flowers are blooming, or it's Christmas and the snow is falling and you are sitting with a warm mug of coffee by the fire. It's at those seemingly perfect moments that you know this all didn't happen by chance. It is not by chance that the leaves turn red in the fall, and it is not by chance that I'm not standing here reading this letter to you now.

After all the suffering I have seen thus far, there are only two things that I know are true. That I love my wife and kids so much, and that God loves me infinitely more than that. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all who have loved, served, and prayed for us. I am so very sorry to leave you all behind, but at the same time I am so happy to be home with my maker. Everything that I love about the fall and the leaves and the fresh air and Italian cooking in the wind, pales in comparison with what it is like in the presence of Jesus. I have not eaten in a very long time, but know that I hunger no more. There is no more pain or suffering, no more tears or sorrow. Grace, AJ, and Gracie, know that God holds you in the palm of His hand especiallly now. Jesus will lead, guide, and protect you. I am confident that your mourning will turn to dancing.

Fight for joy in this. Rejoice because cancer can kill my body but it cannot kill my soul. Rejoice because my greatest sickness was cured in 2001 at the age of 20 when I believed that Jesus could forgive such great sins as mine. Rejoice because even through sickness and death God has done great things in my life, and yours. Rejoice because this is not the end, it is just the beginning.

Rejoice! Again I say rejoice!

I will see many of you soon.

Andrew W. Mark

(Hat tip to Kim)

Good God vs. Andrew's Suffering? Making Sense of It All

2009-02-11T07:23:00.003-05:00

My friend, Bob Glenn, preached a sermon on Sunday reflecting on Andrew's suffering and death. It was so incredibly powerful, I wish you would take some time to listen to it. Briefly, here is the main reflection points:

Andrew Mark's suffering and death are a sobering reminder of the brevity of life.

Andrew Mark's suffering and death point indirectly to the holiness of God.

Andrew Mark's suffering and death are not worth comparing with our glorious future.

Andrew Mark's suffering and death only make sense in light of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

On the very provocative point #2, Bob says this:

If in spite of the heinousness of what he went through, Andrew was treated better than he deserved, and if what he really deserved was hell, and if hell is infinitely worse than any suffering here on earth no matter how severe, and if hell is as bad as God is good, then God must be awfully good.

On point #3:

Think of it like a number line ... make your suffering a negative number ... way across the page to the left of zero and make it a huge number--say, something that corresponds to what Andrew Mark suffered--let's say it's negative one million. Now, take that number and make it a positive number and multiply it by the number of the stars and you won't touch the hem of the garment [of] how much better it will be!

And finally, on point #4:

If life is all about knowing Jesus, if knowing Jesus is supremely worthy and surpassingly valuable, the most valuable thing in the universe, that's what life is all about--then Andrew's suffering and death helped him to know Jesus in a way that only those who suffer can know Him. In fact, that's the only thing that in the end makes Andrew's suffering and death meaningful. Through it he was able to know and enjoy what is supremely enjoyable in the midst of real pain--namely Christ Himself.

I hope these quotes whet your appetite to hear the rest of the sermon. You can either download it here or you can listen to it live on Todd Friel's radio show, Wretched, where he will broadcast it sometime between 2 and 4 CST today. (Yes, that's how powerful the message was--it will be broadcast nationally.)

With Our Savior

2009-02-07T14:51:00.002-05:00

With Our Savior

via Grace's Journal by Grace Mark on 2/7/09

Its 11:30 am Pacific time. Just got a call from Grace that Andrew is now in the presence of our Father. We praise the Lord that he called Andrew to be His and that Andrew is now rejoicing before the throne of grace without pain or suffering.

Please continue to pray for Grace, AJ and Gracie and the rest of the family, that the peace of God would continue to be a comfort to them.

Details on the funeral will be forthcoming. It will most likely be on Tuesday and Grace and the family would love for whoever can make it to be there. Also in lieu of flowers, a fund will be set up for AJ & Gracie. More details on that to come as well, but if you are interested in contributing to that, please email fundforajandgracie@gmail.com and I will send you the details when I have them.

Thank you all for praying and for your encouraging remarks and for continuing to lift this dear family up in your prayers.

Never too young to guard your heart

2009-02-05T22:18:00.007-05:00

(This post is written by Paul & Audrea's friend, Dawn)

I have the most amazing opportunity every week to teach young kids about God and His Word. They are always attentive and eager to learn and somehow remember most everything I teach them. It is a HUGE encouragement to me to see how much they learn and remember. I am blessed every week with 3 beautiful little girls, Makayla, Sabrina, and Elayna. There have been though, many a Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings where somehow I know I am at church, but I feel like Art Linkletter or Bill Cosby are present filming a secret episode of "Kids Say the Darndest Things." We added a friend last night to our Wednesday night events. Taylor, a boy, who is in Kindergarten, joined my beautiful girls. We went through our normal activities of Play-dough, coloring books and crayons, and a short Bible Story. I brought in some Kids Worship music last night to play while we ate our dinner and colored. After class, we had a bit before the kids got picked up, so I proceeded to turn the music on and they all decided to dance around and enjoy the music. They were all laughing and smiling and enjoying each others company. Sabrina decided to dance with her sister Elayna and Elayna was more than willing to enjoy that with her. Well, Taylor, my only boy, decides he wants to dance with Elayna as well, so when Sabrina finished, he made his way to Elayna and took her hands to dance. Elayna stops, plants her feet to the floor, quits smiling and laughing, and yells "NO ROMANCE BEFORE MARRIAGE!!!!!" She dropped Taylors hands and went on dancing by herself enjoying the music. I mean seriously, where is Bill Cosby and Art Linkletter when these things happen anyway? :)

How Should Apologetics Be Used in Evangelism?

2009-02-03T08:34:00.004-05:00

Apologetics' effectiveness in evangelism efforts is to bring people to a place where the intellectual questions are answered and put aside so that the moral choice to submit to God and believe the Gospel or not is on the table. No human argument will ever be persuasive enough to induce a true submission to God.

What I Hate About Working From Home

2009-01-30T18:20:00.002-05:00

Audrea's job is so much harder than mine, and most of her rewards are so intangible.

She spends her whole day serving our family by cooking, cleaning, teaching, organizing, singing, shopping, saving, praying, disciplining, peacemaking, shepherding, crying, remembering, forgetting, suffering, laughing, restraining, preparing, planning, understanding, thinking, praising, rebuking, caring ... shall I go on? I could.

I spend 8 hours of my day serving my family by sitting upstairs at my computer thinking, writing, and coding. I get to listen to music all day, experience mostly peace and quiet, and have a view that is amazing. It's so unfair. It just seems like a crime.

While I truly appreciate the blessing of working from home, I hate having to stay put, do my job, and know that Audrea is doing so much more than I am doing.

This drives me to realize two things:

When a husband comes home from work (or in my case, comes downstairs!) to a wife that stays at home with the children, and especially if she is one who also teaches at home, he should do whatever he possibly can to help her in fulfilling her role as wife and mother of her family. This is just as applicable to those families who are unable (or choose not) to have one parent at home: the roles of each partner do not change--the work/ministry (in my mind) would be still there to do, but would need to be done with less time available.

A husband (like myself) should be motivated to work as hard as he possibly can at his job in order to honor God in the fulfilling of his role as provider and protector of his family.

One other thing that these impress on me: I love my wife more than you can even know.

This Truly Incends Me

2009-01-27T13:55:00.005-05:00

I'm having a hard time writing this post without displaying unbridled anger in my language... so I'll keep it simple and let it inflame you.

I double-checked with Strunk's Elements of Style, The Chicago Manual of Style, and American Psychological Association style guide and verified 1) capitalization of a personal pronoun is reserved for the first-person pronoun (however, references to deity are acceptable--Him, You, etc.) and 2) that the word--Bible--is to be capitalized when referring to the Christian scriptures.

Two sad commentaries on our American culture today:

Last Monday, before Inauguration Day, CBS published this story discussing how the Lincoln Bible would be used to be sworn on by then-President Elect Obama. Unless specifically referring to the book which Lincoln used for his inauguration, the author would refer to God's Word as simply "the bible." Five times, he or she clarified that the book to be sworn in on was simply--a bible.
While the tradition of swearing in using a Bible is simply that-tradition--it does reflect the distinctly Christian heritage the United States of America was signficantly influenced by. The Bibles used for swearing in Presidents have not just been any holy book for some miscellaneous religion: if it was a Bible, it was The Holy Bible, the testament of the Christian faith. It is denigrating to my faith and to our country's heritage to reduce it to simply "the bible"--as if it was irrelevant which religion was associated with the book.

Today, then, Audrea pointed out to me a Garrison Keillor op-ed piece in the Courier Journal. In referring to President Obama, Keillor says:

"People were being marshaled into waiting areas for each train to D.C., each of us with a Commemorative Train Ticket with a picture of Himself on it"

Did you get that? "Himself."

Specifically, note this question and answer from the Chicago Manual:

Q. Is it proper to capitalize pronouns that refer to a deity? For example, “God is willing to forgive anyone who comes to Him.”

A. Yes, although it’s not Chicago style. Capping the pronouns can imply an expression of religious faith on the part of the writer; lowercasing them leaves the writer’s beliefs unclear. The choice of style should be made with sensitivity to the type of reader you are addressing. Lowercasing is more inclusive, but it might offend in some kinds of religious literature.

So, if it wasn't obvious to you already, it should be now: People are worshipping the President as a deity, and are trying their best to relegate God to a myth.

Horse-Riding Lessons

2009-01-22T06:36:00.004-05:00

Savannah has talked about taking horse-riding lessons for a couple years. It used to be that she would ask us to buy a horse. We told her how much work it was and how fast the poop accumulated, but that usually didn't deter her. Eventually we said, "Well, how 'bout lessons, instead, someday?" Our mistake. From that point on, she had talked about lessons. This Christmas, her favorite gift was a certificate for horse-riding lessons. According to her, "It's the best gift I've ever gotten."

There is a horse riding club right here in town, just 5 minutes away from our house that we take her to. You'll notice in the picture that she has her coat on and looks bundled up. The lessons occur in a large barn but the barn is not really heated. She loves it all the same, though.

(It isn't extremely bright in there, so you'll have to excuse the graininess of the pictures.) When I took her for one of the lessons, I was kind of nervous, considering my horse-riding accident last spring. Watching her go around the fence without any help slowly built up my confidence in her.

Meanwhile, she goes on loving horses and still talking about a career centered around horses.

Encouragement for Sufferers

2009-01-16T08:53:00.002-05:00

Hear a good word from John Piper on proper perspective through hard times. Though his subject concerns the economy, this was encouraging to me in my present trials.

Vote for the Quads Blog!!

2009-01-09T12:27:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone who sometimes takes a look at my blog--could you do me a favor?

My friend, Jen Murray, has a blog about her quadruplets. Please take a moment today and as often as you want (but no more than once per day) to vote for it being one of the best parenting blogs of 2008. Her blog is an encouragement to those parents who wonder how to take care of several children at once and is always an amazing display of God's grace in many ways. Her blog can be seen here and you can vote for it here.

(Funny note about how I know Jen: I met Jen when I lived in Danville and worked at the Open Door. She would come in and give me a hard time about this so-called girlfriend (aka Audrea) that must not exist since she had never met her. It wasn't until much later that I found out that she was the kid sister of my dear friend, Kirby Myers!)

Oh my... no words for this

2009-01-08T08:23:00.003-05:00

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Morning Report: Even the porn industry wants a bailout
Finally, in this era of unprecedented government bailouts, there is an industry worthy of our tax dollars.
In a story that no sportswriter could invent, CNN last night reported that another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis unfolds.
Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said yesterday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.
Things must be tough all over.

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T00:08:00.004-05:00

Welcome to 2009, everyone!!!!!

My family and I wish you all a happy new year and pray that you will experience afresh God's grace throughout the whole year!

Pickin' the Christmas Tree, Kentucky Style

2008-12-31T10:13:00.000-05:00

When we lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota, we would typically go pick out our tree at a tree farm or go cut it down, usually while freezing our noses off, and enjoying a hot cup of chocolate afterward. Transporting it home always involved tying it to the roof of that van with twine and then getting sap all over your hands while trying to take it off the van and set it up. The whole process from start to finish (of just going getting the tree, picking it out, and bringing it home) would take at least three hours.

This year we got our tree Kentucky-style. We put a few of the kids in the wagon and then whole family including the dog walked to the end of the block where there is a flower/garden shop that had real trees.

We picked out the tree, paid for it, tied it to the wagon, and walked back down the block to our house with it on our Kentucky sled.

I brought it in and set it up in the stand and watered it and it was ready to be decorated. The whole process from start to finish this time took well under an hour. I think the temperature outside was around 45!
The girls all decorated the tree while I went outside and hung lights on the house (I forgot to get a picture of that). Here we are in front of our beautiful tree!
This year with the extra time, we were able to set up the "kids tree" and hang the lights on it as well!

Thanksgiving Day

2008-12-30T21:28:00.001-05:00

This year was the first year we hosted Thanksgiving celebration at our house. My sister, Karen, and her husband, Ricky, came up from Nashville, and my mom came down from Danville. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner together and as usual, a round of teasing each other!
Savannah had a great time setting the table and making it look beautiful!

Halloween Happenings

2008-12-30T09:53:00.000-05:00

I know this is really late to be posting about Halloween, but if you've been reading for the last couple of days on this blog, you'll know I'm in catch up mode.

Before we went trick-or-treating on Saturday, Audrea and the girls went to a Reformation Party at Clifton Baptist. Here the girls are in the Dissenter's Jail. The theme of the party was John Knox and the Covenanters. Ironically, we had already been learning a little bit about the Covenanters from our readings through Jesus in Exodus.
Here they are dressed up in full costume:
The next day the younger girls kept the same costumes and Savannah dressed up as a "pioneer girl" and they all escorted Superman.
Of course, what would a troupe be without their dog in cape!

William

2008-12-29T21:28:00.001-05:00

Tonight we will look at a few glimpses of the busy life of our toddlin' boy William.

Will turned 1 this year and celebrated with a decorations of dogs everywhere! (Notice the wall of coloring pages and drawings behind him in this picture.)
Will loves to work--especially cleaning. If he can get involved with whatever you're doing, he's happy!

Will is also our little builder. Here he is below after he and I went to Home Depot where they help kids do building projects once a month.
Will is also very strong and agile. Here he lives up to the name on his shirt--Lightning Mcqueen. Audrea frequently catches him up on top of the girls bunkbeds sometimes standing up and dancing to their music.
And speaking of music, he's a huge fan of anything musical (his tastes range from classical to rock, from hip hop to country, so basically anything daddy listens to!)
He has also picked up same love for books that his sisters have. Here he is with them and his Grandma Connie reading to him.
For the longest time he would do this silly little face shown below. He'd scrunch up his lips like so and breathe loudly in and out through his nose. Give it a try. I'm sure your friends will love it!
Finally, I leave you with my favorite picture of the year. Will and his best friend, Caleb, were playing in the bedroom after Will's bath when we caught him just like this. The picture was so hilarious we hosted a caption contest on facebook. The winning caption was "Tell me again... why do I have to be naked in order to escape?" The second place caption was "Uh dude, you're visible again."

Elayna

2008-12-29T10:00:00.002-05:00

This morning I want to introduce you to my darling Elayna. Elayna turned 4 this year as you can clearly see in the picture below.
Baby Sweet's happy grin is always such a warming sight! Here she is doing one of her favorite things: munching on snacks!
Here she is doing her most favorite thing: sleeping whilst sucking her thumb under her cuddly "tt-woobee-bubba" (as she calls it--she keeps adding new names that she likes).
Elayna can't decide who she likes to play with more: Will or Sabrina. She has been such a big helper with her brother but does tend to get into the most squabbles with him :)
Here's my little lovely one helping make these flowers look even more beautiful.

Sabrina

2008-12-28T21:28:00.001-05:00

This evening I want to show you our "little red"--Sabrina. Sabrina turned 6 this year and is also growing up way too fast!
You may have noticed Sabrina's length of hair in the picture above. She announced to us this year that she wanted to get her hair cut a little shorter. It was the first major cut she has ever had! It was down about two-thirds of her back, but 10 inches later it touches her shoulder.

Though she's not proud of them, notice the freckles that daddy passed on to her that are starting to pop up under her eyes:Sabrina has a darling little smirk (as shown below) that is designed to capture your heart. I will be a very busy dad fighting off the boys with this one!
I love this picture below where Audrea caught her in a natural moment having tons of fun on a hay ride:
Our little Bina has about 45 nicknames that we've given her including but not limited to hoppy, boppy, bina bop, hippity, hoppity, and on and on. One of her other nicknames is revealed here in this picture: floppy.
This was also the big year for her to part ways with her two front baby teeth.
The new ones did grow in quickly before Christmas!

Savannah

2008-12-28T10:51:00.001-05:00

For the next two days, I'm going to highlight our four beautiful blessings from God: our children. Today, I start with our oldest: Savannah. Savannah turned 9 this year and is too quickly growing up as you can see in this portrait below.

Savannah loves all things horses. Here she is riding Star at her uncle Rick's farm.
I'm not kidding when I say "loves" horses:
Savannah is also our avid outdoors person. She'll stay out all day if you let her. Here she is with her first catch of the day at our Elliott family reunion.
You'll also notice in these pictures a strange device she is wearing. We discovered this year that she has scoliosis and will have to wear this brace until she stops growing. I wrote a lot about this trial in our life earlier this year on this blog.

Savannah is also the leader of our little artists. Here she is below with a butterfly she painted on silk at an art camp at Sojourn Community Church this summer.

She also wanted you to see this large silk banner that she helped her class paint.

Savannah's accident was a big highlight of her life in November! If you hadn't heard, she fell off a diving board at our school's rec center pool and was taken to the hospital for stitches. Here she is being assessed by the medics.
Here's the Gurney Girl being rolled away!
Here she is being loaded into the ambulance.
And, praise the Lord, here she is with the only effects of the fall: 3 stitches in the chin.
All has healed up nicely and matches the little scar on my chin where I hurt it jumping off the stairs backwards at First Baptist. We've decided to start our own club. Not sure what to call it though: the chin club or the clutz club!

A New Addition to the Family

2008-12-27T21:28:00.000-05:00

This September we welcomed a new addition to our family: Suzie Q (not necessarily after the Hostess treat or the Creedence song, however both apply well!). Suzie Q is considered a "designer dog" (pathetic, I know) and is a combination of 3 AKC breeds: Shih Tzu, Brussels Griffon, and a Toy Poodle. She weighed a little less than 2 pounds when we got her and now she is up to 5 pounds. She won't get much bigger than that. She isn't a "yipper" and she doesn't shed which makes her a pleasant dog to have around.
Audrea drove up to Chicago to meet her mom who had brought Suzie down from the Wisconsin Rapids area. Then Audrea brought her back to Danville where we (Paul, Elayna, and William) were waiting for them. She brought Suzie in, tucked in a box that was wrapped up like a present. In this picture below, Elayna had opened the box to discover the puppy and William was pointing and saying, "dog, dog" over and over.
The happy little puppy once freed from clutches of Elayna bounded into William's arms.
It's kind of silly, but Suzie is just like a baby in that she won't go to sleep unless she is being held by someone. Well, at least that's what she tries to pull off. If you ignore her for long enough, she'll try and find a blanket somewhere to curl up in.
One of the funny/bad things she does is find Will's pacifier's on the floor and picks up and walks around the house sucking on them (not chewing!). Here in this picture below we had caught her in the act.
Suzie is basically potty-trained now. It's been several weeks since she had an accident, but getting to that point took an unbelievable amount of patience (or the display of a lack of patience) on my part. We started working with her on the sit-stay-come commands right away. Now, unfortunately, she is obeying better than William!

Reuniting on the Farm

2008-12-27T09:42:00.000-05:00

At the end of May we were able to spend over a week at our family reunion with Audrea's mom and dad and her brother, Jared, and his wife, Stephannie. It was such a wonderful time and at such a beautiful farm. Audrea's aunt and uncle who own the horse farm where I had my accident hosted the reunion.

It was great for our horse-loving girls (especially Savannah) because while we were there, at the farm around the corner, a foal was born and all the children were able to go and see it.

We were also able to spend some quality time with Jared and Stephannie. They currently live in the Phoenix area where Jared works at nuclear power plant. It's hard to be so far apart from these two...
One of the funny experiences was getting to see Audrea fire a gun for the first time in her life. I didn't get a decent picture of her actually firing it, but here she is getting the basics from her sharpshooter dad on how to hold and fire a shotgun. (For those of you interested, it was a 12-gauge.)

Fieldtrips!

2008-12-26T21:28:00.001-05:00

One of the great benefits of homeschooling is the freedom to take many more field trips than you would get to in a typical schooling situation. When my mom taught us at home we were able to visit all kinds of interesting locations such as a candy factory, a newspaper press, television studio, and of course historic sites. Audrea has it even better than we did: she found a group that is explicitly about creating field trips--River City Field Trips.

Recently they were able to visit The Farnsley~Moremen Landing here in Kentucky.

The main reason for the girls to go on this trip was to help Savannah explore what an archaelogist does by working in a dig and seeing a real dig site.

The girls were allowed to work in the hole and see what they could find!

At the end, the girls were able to create their own bricks from clay with their names engraved.

Cousins

2008-12-26T16:19:00.001-05:00

This was the year of reunions! It started off at the end of 2007 with getting together with all the Fuller cousins (Paul's brothers' children--from left: Rhys [Jonathan's], Elayna, Stephanie [Stephen's], Christopher [Stephen's], Mackenzie [Stephen's], Savannah, Sabrina, Will, and Raegan [Jonathan's]).

In May, we travelled southeast into Kentucky for an Elliott family reunion (this is Audrea's family on her mom's side). This was held on the same farm where I had the horse riding accident.

Then in June, we travelled up into Indiana to celebrate the graduations with many of the Walther cousins (these are some of Audrea's cousins on her dad's side).

Nothing Sweet About Parting

2008-12-25T16:54:00.001-05:00

Shakespeare was wrong. There is nothing sweet about parting. Maybe Romeo was pumped because he knew he would be seeing Juliet soon (or so he thought!), but we don't know when we'll get to see our friends again. My friend Jason from Appleton asked me some monthis ago if it was hard to leave Minnesota. I told him it was. In many respects it was very hard.

Physically, it was a strenuous, cold, and tiring move. Spiritually, it stretched our faith far wondering when God would sell our house. Relationally, it was tough to have to leave behind so many friends. We had already done it once in 2004 when we had to leave our dear friends at Emmanuel Baptist in Appleton, but this time seemed even harder since we had such a wide circle of friends there in Minnesota.

Over the next few days, I am going to finally post many pictures from the last year. To start off this series of posts, I want to honor just a few of our close friends that we miss so much.

Our children had just as hard of a time leaving these friends:

The Sorensens

The Rich children (of course this is only 2 of the 7!)

The Levy children (this is just Anne, but they miss David, Abby, and Alyssa as well!)

Our hearts were torn as we had to leave these dear friends:

Our small group from Redeemer Bible Church (this group made us feel like family and was such a blessing to us in the short time we were able to be with them).

Christian King (Our friend who has returned to his homeland in Liberia.)

Alyssa Levy (Our reliable, creative, and loving babysitter.)

Bob and Lorraine Meredith (Our pastor and his wife from Emmaus Baptist and a testimony to God's amazing grace!)

Dave & Glorianne Levy (of course the parents of the children above, but also the ones we forced to be our friends when we first moved to Minneapolis)

Jason & Dana Klohs (friends from Emmaus who showed us what it looks like to trust God even when you don't know when your next dollar's going to come in)

Mark & Roxy Prins (friends from Emmaus who loved us like we were their own children and whose girls [Kelsey & Ashley] had a Barbie collection that put ours to shame :) )

Kathy Gilder (another friend from Emmaus who we loved dearly and always looked forward to hearing about her many adventures)

Jeff & Jodi Rich (friends from seminary whom we would love to serve with in ministry together someday!)

There are so many other friends we could highlight from Redeemer, Emmaus, Central Seminary, and even our neighborhood. What is amazing about being a Christian is the almost instant fellowship that can occur between brothers and sisters in Christ who have never met. While it was painful to leave Wisconsin and Minnesota, God has blessed us again with a whole new pack of friends! God is so good.

2008-12-11T12:34:00.000-05:00

Audrea here... I came across this little letter today and needed the laugh and thought maybe you would too...

Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year.
I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my own doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out -- over several Christmases. Since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles; and who knows when I'll find any more free time in the next 18 years, so now - -
*** Here are my Christmas wishes ***
*I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (-in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.
*I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.
*If you're hauling big-ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.
*On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, 'Yes, Mommy' to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.
*I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, 'Don't eat in the living room' and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.
*If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.
*If you don't mind, I could also use a few miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.
*It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.
Well, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing, and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his red crayon back. Have a safe trip Santa, and remember to leave your wet boots by the door, and come in and dry off, so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table, but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours always with love and appreciation,
A Mom
P.S. One more thing . . You can cancel all my requests, if you can keep my children 'young' enough to believe in Santa.

Catastrophe in Zambia

2008-12-01T08:34:00.001-05:00

I received this email this morning from my friends ministering in Zambia:

Dear Prayer Partners,

Yesterday, at 5pm a horrible storm swept through our area of Ndola and destroyed our church structure, injured our pastor in training, ripped a fourth of the roof off of the library/institute building, soaked most of the library books, and destroyed a portion of the church property's wallfence.

The devastation is severe.

Our pastor in training was in the church tent (40 feet x 30 feet) with the church treasurer when the wind picked the structure up and slammed it back into the ground. Part of the steel frame hit the pastor in the head and opened a large wound. When we arrived at the scene his church shirt was covered with blood. I checked him for a concussion and sent him for treatment.

The tent is a total loss, the steel frame is wadded up and bent into an unrecognizable shape. The tent itself is torn and and in places literally shredded. The church benches are undamaged, but the hymnals, pew Bibles and other church documents are lost.

The library/institute building had the asbestos roof and purlins peeled off. About a fourth of the roof on both sides was completely swept away. The rain then poured into the library and ruined probably a third of the books. We had a supply of donated Bibles and New Testaments in this building also, all were damaged by the water. We lost over 50 Bibles and over 500 New Testaments. The library and institute is now closed.

A portion of our wallfence was also blown down. This is a very sturdy cinder block wall that was properly built and reinforced. It was pushed over as if it were nothing.

We praise the Lord that the pastor in training is doing better today and that no one else was injured. The ladies had been holding a special service in the afternoon, but thankfully they were already home when the storm hit.

We will continue on.

I have received a personal loan from a local businessman and have already today began repairs on the library/institute building. The library/institute will have to remain closed until after our furlough. This will allow the church (which is our priority) to be able to use the library/institute building for services.

The loss of property from this storm is well over $10,000.

Please. please pray with us.

Already rumors are circulating that this is a curse from God on our church. People are often swayed by these type of malicious rumors and it concerns us to have this disaster after the church fire 3 years ago.

This has hit me and Jill especially hard. Emotionally, we are drained. We are doing our very best to serve the Lord here alone and it seems that we are visited again and again by disaster. Please pray that we will be spiritually and emotionally encouraging to one another and to our budding Christians.

The same storm knocked out the power to our home and so I am at an internet cafe writing to you. We are not sure when we will have power again.

Again, please pray for us and for Calvary Baptist Church.

On another note, please also pray for Andrea, she has been very sick with a stomach flu or food poisoning. On Saturday evening she vomited over 30 times.

Thank you so much for your partnership with us.

No Turning Back,
Andrew S. Schultz

Please pray for Andy & Jill and consider sending them money to help them recover from this terrible loss. They are preparing to leave the country soon for a furlough. Consider how incredibly difficult this will be for them to leave the local church in that state. You can donate money to their ministry by clicking here or by mailing a check to BIMI using the following address:

Andrew Schultz Family #821
c/o Baptist International Missions Inc.
P.O. Box 9215
Chattanooga, TN 37412 U.S.A.

(NOTE when using this method, please be sure to designate your gift in the memo section: Andrew Schultz Family #821 in ZAMBIA)

What a day!

2008-11-11T07:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an amazingly long day for us. We started the morning off by carting off 3 of the 4 children to 2 different friends to watch for them for the day. Then Audrea and I took Sabrina to Kosair Children's Hospital for her to have an MRI. Her orthopedic doctor had requested that be done because her scoliosis seemed to be progressing more rapidly than Savannah's. The brave little girl opted to not be sedated for it and to instead lay very still for almost an hour while they took pictures of her spine. She did so well! She had to fast from the night before until the MRI was done. Had she opted to be sedated, she would have had an IV and all the accompanying symptoms that normally follow waking up from that and hence, would've had to wait to eat until about 12:30 or so. Instead, we got to go eat at 11am and go to her choice of restaurant--Taco Bell. Afterwards we had to find something to do for a couple hours until her follow-up appointment with the spine doctor. So she chose to go to Starbucks and eat lemon cake while drinking hot chocolate and listening to momma read The Horse and His Boy to her--what a way to suffer! At the follow-up to review the MRI's, the doctor said that he believes the cause of her scoliosis is Tethered-Cord Syndrome--a rare condition where your spinal cord is being stretched to tightly downwards. This weakens the muscles holding the spine up and hence, the curve begins. It is a treatable condition but if not dealt with could have very bad symptoms. He recommended that we go to a very qualified pediatric neurosurgeon who handles about 100 cases of these per year. He'll review the MRI and give us his second opinion to confirm or deny what Dr. Puno is seeing.

Once we wrapped that up, picked up all the kids, and came home, I had about an hour to sit down and work before taking Savannah to her "Kids Fit" class at the rec center at our seminary. Yesterday was swim day when they have class in the pool and afterwards get to play with their friends. I was sitting in the lobby working and waiting for her to finish when one of our good friends came in and told me that Savannah got hurt on the diving board. I rushed in to see what happened and found her being attended to by several of the instructors and the life guard. She had blood all over her chest and swimsuit and was in the throes of panic. When they went to switch the gauze pads being held against her chin, I saw a pretty good slice that I knew was going to need stitches. Unfortunately, all the instructors didn't know about Savannah's penchant for dramatics--extreme dramatics. (aka some real fear issues) So when they began explaining that she would need stitches, everything went downhill from there!

To make a very long story short, she rode in an ambulance to Kosair's (she requested that hospital since Sabrina got to go there!), learned that doctors and stitches are okay, ate supper at McDonalds around 9:30pm, and came home to tell our dear friend (who happens to be very pregnant and in spite of her state, was a hero-servant for feeding and bathing all of our children, cleaning up our kitchen, and tucking them all in!) everything that happened. She stayed up for another hour and got to tell her grandma all the gory details before finally going to bed.

We finally crawled into bed at 11ish and praised the Lord that both Sabrina and Savannah weren't paralyzed. What a good God we have!

Click here to see some images from my cell phone during the event.

The Good and the Bad of the American Way

2008-11-06T09:32:00.001-05:00

Sidenote: I realize it has been a long time since I posted anything original, but life at home, church, and school obviously should take a higher priority for me... Second, it's been even longer since I've updated you with pictures of the fam. So after this brief comment-post, I promise to post many days of family updates! I promise!

While nearly-everything President-Elect Obama stands for is antithetical to the very principles that guide my life, I am thrilled that I live in the day when a non-Caucasian has been elected President. It does say so much for the NAACP's extra-long-term-committed work over the generations, but says even more for the Glory of God as seen through the imago dei.

But here's what I want you think about: it took vision and long-term commitment to that vision to see equality of US citizens defended all the way to the top. Here's the scary thing--the ACLU, People for the American Way, and other rights-groups are fighting with the same kind of vision and commitment for a non-God-glorifying cause: to destroy God's design of gender and marriage. I am not just succumbing to some conspiracy theorists or egotistical, loud-mouthed conservative talk-radio hosts. Read it for yourself:

"The cultural acceptance of gay marriage is a long-term process,'' said
[Kathryn] Kolbert of People for the American Way.

Andrew's "Sooner than Later" Post

2008-10-13T07:11:00.000-04:00

Some of you may remember posts here on this blog about Andrew's battle with cancer this year... Andrew received some difficult news regarding an MRI: the cancer has spread into other parts of his body including, apparently, his spine. If the spine in fact has a cancerous tumor on it, it will not be operable. Andrew and Grace have decided to take a different approach to this next phase. Instead of trying to find ways to kill the cancer, they are going to find ways to enjoy the quality of life he has now--to make the most of what remaining days God grants him.

Please pray that they'll have great wisdom in discerning treatment methods, pain-relief methods, and moreover that God would continue to be magnified in their lives as The Greatest Treasure... for to die is gain.

Tomorrow Rhett gets to come home!

2008-10-03T10:35:00.000-04:00

Today I received the following update from Amanda:

Today was pretty uneventful. That is good news in the Fuller family! My Dad went with me to the hospital in case Rhett could come home today, but when we got there they decided to go ahead and do the 24 hour EEG at the hospital so when he is done with that test he gets to come home! They will read the test and give the results to my pediatrician, who I will see on Monday. He had only one culture grow something back that was abnormal, but since it was from the blood draw at Silver Cross they redid it and the second time it came back normal. Whether or not he had an infection, I do not know. Either way he was treated with the antibiotics and now he is testing fine. They pulled his I.V. today, which thrilled me. I was so happy to see him with nothing stuck in his body. He looked better today then yesterday and today he didn't shake at all. We are so happy that everything is seeming to be better and all right, just pray with us that the shaking stays at a minimum and does not gradually get worse. That is what I will look for in Rhett. If the shaking starts to get worse and worse I think I will take him to the dr. before it gets bad enough to go into a seizure again. That was probably my mistake last Saturday. When I saw the shaking get worse, I should have called right away, but instead I just thought I would call the dr. on Monday. I never realized that it would lead to a seizure. Another test that is still pending is the PKU tests. That is another test that would result in a diet change for Rhett if it came back positive. We are praying that comes back soon so we can have an answer and not wonder about why it was abnormal. Connie thinks this could all have resulted from my being strep B positive the last 2 pregnancies and not this time. Strep B does not hurt the mom but can cause serious problems to a newborn if the mom isn't treated with antibiotics before she delivers. I was not treated this time and the neonatologists at the other hospital said that this was their top suspicion as to why Rhett had symptoms of infection. I'm not sure why they could not just test him for strep B. I hope if that is the case that it is out of his system and we are done with this 2 week chapter in his life. Please continue to pray that everything goes well as we bring him home and that God will give us a peace about Rhett and that I won't be the "nervous, new mom" the neurologist implied I was. Thanks again for the kind emails, sweet phone calls, and cards. I thank God I have such a good family and friends!! Love, Amanda

I praise the Lord for my mom (shown in the picture here with Rhett) and all the sacrifices she has made for all of us kids.

Rhett Update

2008-10-02T09:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday they put Rhett on a continuous EEG while being video monitored at Children's Memorial. If he has an observable seizure during the next 24 hours they'll be able to cross-reference back to that point in the EEG's recorded data. After that, they'll have run out of tests and will likely send him home saying, "he just has to grow out of it." If that's the case, that will be extremely stressful for Jon and Amanda not knowing if/when he'll have another seizure or about the severity of it. Please pray for wisdom with the testing and supernatural insight for the doctors.

Praying for 13 day old Rhett

2008-09-30T17:30:00.000-04:00

This morning I received this email from Amanda, my sister-in-law, Rhett's mommy:

Last Sunday, I was taking a much needed nap in the afternoon and Jonathan was watching the three kids, when he suddenly came running into the bedroom telling me to get up and come and look at Rhett. I was scared immediately. I ran and picked him up and he was having a seizure. His little body would scream, shake, arch his head, throw his hands back behind his head in a tense way, and he had a foam like drool coming out of his mouth and nose. We were grabbing bags and were going to take him to the ER. It seemed as though the episodes were happening faster so we decided to call 911. My neighbor and Jamee Fouts came over to watch Rhys and Raegan as we left in the ambulance. We were so scared. They took us to Silver Cross in Joliet. By this time he had stopped with the seizure and had not repeated it. Mom, Dad, and Pastor came immediately to be with us. They did a lot of blood work(5 vials full) and they did a brain scan. After calling our doctor, they decided to send us to Children's Memorial in Chicago for further testing and observation. Children's came and picked up Rhett. Before we left they wanted him on I.V.s to start antibiotics immediately and they wanted a spinal tap for fluid. They did not get much fluid from him, he's so little. His veins are still beat up and bruised from his last visit to the hospital and they could not get an I.V. They tried 7 times, with a special light and even tried his head, (which they told me worked well on infants) and they couldn't get anything. They informed us that they might have to put an I.V. straight into his bone if they couldn't get it. We felt sick hearing that. They decided to go without the I.V.s. It was so hard to hear his little scream(he is not normally a screamer) and to watch them lift him into the little air vac baby holder. It was even harder to see the blood all over his bed from all of his sticks and procedures he already went through. I went in the ambulance and Jonathan followed. We got there around 12:30 at night. When we got there they started lots of tests, they did finally get an I.V. in after 2 more sticks and some heat and special lighting. This is one of my main prayer requests
right now. Please pray that his site does not collapse and that they can continue his meds through it. It's so hard to watch them stick him over and over. On Monday they did an EEG to test his brain waves and an MRI. They drew some more blood from him, (more pokes) and we got the news that the spinal was insufficient, they would have to do it again. That just broke us. Sometimes I just wanted to yell, "Enough!", yet we knew it had to be done. They are running every test they possibly can to rule out every possible reason for his seizure and his shaking. They are testing him for everything, including meningitis and mersa. It's nice to know they are being thorough, yet it's a lot to watch Rhett go through. Jonathan and
I were recently talking about how glad we are that our lives are not in our control or the doctors. It doesn't matter how much money, fame, or friends you have, you cannot change what God's plan is for your life. I guess we didn't realize how fast we would have to live this. Rhett is stable right now. He is eating normally. He is getting anibiotics and a viral medicine in case he has a virus. The main thing that is being done to him is lots of tests. Most of them take 48 hours to come back so he will be in the hospital for at least 3-4 days until they all come back. The main thing we need right now is prayer for Rhett.
1. That his I.V. site does not collapse.
2. That the tests will show where the problem is.
3. That it is fixable.We are doing as well as we can, we are extremely tired with this emotional roller coaster and not much sleep.
Connie is here to watch the kids for now and Jonathan is going to go back to work. (He's missed a lot already) I am going to Children's by myself tomorrow. I will try to keep everyone updated the best I can. I figure emails are the best way to tell everyone at once.

Thanks, Amanda

Thank you for the emails and Facebook messages I have received telling me that they are praying for Rhett!

Keep Praying...

2008-09-28T21:49:00.000-04:00

Following up on my post this morning about what-does-my-eschatology-matter-for... My mom called me this afternoon crying and told me that Rhett had a seizure today and was taken in an ambulance to the hospital. My mom isn't one to cry at the drop of a hat and was clearly shaken. She headed up to Chicago to watch the children. We don't know any more information at this point. However, this is where the rubber meets the road in the life of faith. Will you believe along with me that this is a reminder of the effect of the Curse on us and that on the Cross, the reversal of the Curse was secured. However, while it was secured, it was not completed. Christ promised us that in these last days we would experience great tribulations. Yet, as John Piper wrote about a few days ago, there is purpose in it all: Suffering is meant to teach us about repentance (as "a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God"), reliance (as "a call to trust God not the life-sustaining props of the world"), righteousness (as "the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his holiness"), reward (as "working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousand-fold"), and reminder (to remind "us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God's condemnation but his purification").

Why Does It Matter What I Believe about the End?

2008-09-28T11:25:00.001-04:00

During my time here in seminary, several areas of my theology have taken a more defined shape, some have just started to form, and others have actually changed. One area that has taken on more definition is that of eschatology (what I believe about the Kingdom of God, Israel, end-times prophecy, etc.). A good portion of the theological views I have now tend to be in conflict with most of the people I grew up with in church and have fellowshipped with over my adult years. I've told some friends that this unfortunately complicates where I will be able to minister when we are done with seminary. Some have asked me why my views of eschalology, for example, would really matter that much.

There are two reasons why this complicates things--one pragmatic and the other philosophical. First, while it is possible to have close church fellowship with brothers who differ on views about the place of Israel, for example, it can be very difficult to have differing views among the same church staff. Second, I have typically responded to people that your view on eschatology affects your life dramatically because it helps you think beyond the here and now and also about the here and now since it places your story somewhere within the Grand Story. In other words, it shapes your view of life, why you think you're here, how to think when bad things happen, and where this is all going. On Thursday in chapel, Dr. Mohler put it very succinctly: "Eschatology frames the reality of our life."

So why does it matter? Because it will shape my counseling, preaching, teaching, husbanding, parenting, and relating.

What Kind of a Friend

2008-09-26T08:25:00.000-04:00

Relationships are incredibly messy. The deepest kind of friendships form—the strongest bonds solidify—when those closest to us hurt us and make us to want to return the hurt but in spite of our pain we step forward and love the other. Mark Heard said it beautifully: “What kind of friend do friends become when the heart says ‘kill’ and the soul says ‘love’?”

"What Kind Of A Friend"
What kind of a friend could pull a knife
When it's him or you and his kids need shoes?
What kind of friend would do you in
When the bomb goes off and the shelter's his?
What kind of friends do friends become
When the musical chairs get down to one?
What kind of friend could I become?
What kind of friend am I?

What kind of friend would tell you lies
To spare you from the bitter truth?
What kind of friend could stoop so low
As to shield your eyes from the mirror's gaze?
What kind of friends do friends become
When a blind eye turns on the damage done?
What kind of friend could I become?
What kind of friend am I?

What kind of friend survives the night
In a frightened sense of self-defence?
What kind of friend can take the ache
Of losing face for friendship's sake?
What kind of friend do friends become
When the heart says "kill" and the soul says "love"?
What kind of friend could I become?
What kind of friend am I?

Written by Mark Heard © 1991 Ideola Music/ASCAP

Please Pray for Rhett

2008-09-23T11:22:00.001-04:00

My brother, Jonathan, and his wife, Amanda, were blessed last week with the birth of their third child, Rhett Bradley. Little Rhett has had to be kept at the hospital because of some health issues that at this time aren't very clear. Reading this post from John Piper today reminded me to pray for Rhett's health to improve, but also for Jonathan and Amanda's faith to grow even more through this trial; that through this trial, they would cling more closely to Christ than ever before.

Sent to Blogger by fuller_paul via Google Reader:

Preparing for Sudden Suffering

via Desiring God Blog on 9/23/08

(Author: John Piper)

Recently I wrote that we seldom know the micro reasons for our sufferings, but the Bible does give us faith-sustaining macro reasons. It is good to have a way to remember some of these so that when we are suddenly afflicted, or have a chance to help others in their affliction, we can recall some of the truths God has given us to help us not lose hope.

Here is one way to remember. Five R's (or if it helps, just pick three and try to remember them). The macro purposes of God in our sufferings include:

Repentance

Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God.

Luke 13:4-5 - Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Reliance

Suffering is a call to trust God not the life-sustaining props of the world.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 - For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Righteousness

Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his holiness.

Hebrews 12:6, 10-11 - The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.... He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Reward

Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousand-fold.

2 Corinthians 4:17 - This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Matthew 5:11-12 - Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

Reminder

Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God's condemnation but his purification.

Philippians 3:10 - ...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.

Mark 10:45 - The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

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Impressive Palin Interview

2008-09-12T08:58:00.000-04:00

I have to say, I'm quite impressed with Palin's confidence, boldness, and strength at least in this interview. It's pretty funny to watch how perturbed Charlie Gibson is and as well how she seems to dominate the conversation without wincing.

Palin's TV interview debut

History In the Making?

2008-09-10T06:54:00.000-04:00

Construction on the 17-mile long tunnel 328 feet underground began 14 years ago and has so far cost $5 billion.

What would drive someone to build a tunnel like this and for that cost? So they can figure out what happened at the beginning of time. Read about their desperate search here, here, here, and here, but you'll find the much more accurate answer to the question they've spent so much time looking for here.

The Power and Authority of the Word

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

Yesterday's chapel was one that will forever live in my memory and by God's grace will forever shape my mission.

Terry Delaney wrote his initial response here and as he said, words can't really describe what it was like. Listening to Dr. David Platt's message online may convey something of what happened, but it was clearly the Spirit of God speaking the Word of God powerfully through a man. If you listen to the first two-thirds of the message you'll simply hear Romans chapters 1 through 8. But what you may not realize is that Dr. Platt was not reading. He was speaking from memory the entire section, but not just quoting it. He spoke it with a power that seemed to be God speaking directly to us all. People throughout the auditorium were standing up, raising hands, and/or weeping. God was pressing on us the weightiness of the Gospel.

After Dr. Platt finished speaking Romans 1-8, he spoke verses 1-5 of chapter 9 where because of this great salvation in chapters 1-8, Paul tells us he is willing to be cast into hell for his people. Here's the point: • If we believe the content of chapters 1-8 then we bear the missiological burden of vv 9:1-5: it is impossible to have a Gospel theology without an urgent missiology. If Romans 1-8 is true, then 4.5 billion people stand today under the judgment and on the road to hell. We don’t have time to play games with church. We owe the gospel to the world.

The Hill Called Difficult

2008-08-22T06:26:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Convocation at Southern Seminary, my first day of chapel. Dr. Mohler called for this to be "The Year of Living Dangerously." I was challenged to think, "What if my default is to go instead of stay?" As he pointed out, this is where in the history of the church (and as I reflected, in my life) that it is hardest to "let goods and kindred go."

This morning as I read in Pilgrim's Progress, I came across this passage which gets to the heart of Dr. Mohler's point and convicts me of laziness and the temptation to be comfortable:

From A Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan:

I beheld then, that they all went on till they came to the foot of the hill “Difficulty,” at the bottom of which was a spring. There was also in the same place two other ways besides that which came straight from the Gate; one turned to the left hand, and the other to the right, at the bottom of the Hill: but the narrow way lay right up the Hill (and the name of the going up the side of the Hill, is called Difficulty.) Christian now went to the spring and drank thereof to refresh himself (Isaiah 49:10), and then began to go up the Hill; saying,

This Hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend;
For I perceive the way to life lies here;
Come, pluck up, Heart; lets neither faint nor fear:
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.

The other two also came to the foot of the Hill. But when they saw that the Hill was steep and high, and that there was two other ways to go; and supposing also, that these two ways might meet again with that up which Christian went, on the other side of the Hill; therefore they were resolved to go in those ways (now the name of one of those ways was Danger, and the name of the other Destruction.) So the one took the way which is called Danger, which led him into a great Wood; and the other took directly up the way to Destruction, which led him into a wide field full of dark mountains, where he stumbled and fell, and rose no more.

"Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe."

How Much Do You Really Love God?

2008-08-12T07:02:00.001-04:00

I tell myself that I love God. But how do I know how much I truly am loving God. In other words, is there a way to measure how much I love God? I believe so. I agree with Jerry Bridges when he says so in The Discipline of Grace (p123):

Jesus said, "He who has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47). In the context of that statement He essentially said the converse is also true: Those who have been forgiven much love much. Therefore, we can say that the extent to which we realize and acknowledge our own sinfulness, and the extent to which we realize the total forgiveness and cleansing from those sins, will determine the measure of our love to God.

I don't love God as I ought—with all of my heart, soul, and mind. The extent to which I realize and acknowledge my sinfulness is not vast: I tend to focus on particular areas and think that the others are okay or I euphemize my sins. The extent to which I actually—not just say I do— realize the total forgiveness and cleansing from my sinfulness is not great either: I tend to try to clean up my act in order to compensate for other areas of failure. So what am I to do? Bridges goes on to say:

So if we want to grow in our love for God and in the acceptable obedience that flows out of that love, we must keep coming back to the Cross and the cleansin blood of Jesus Christ. That is why it is so important that we keep the gospel before us every day. Because we sin every day, and our consciences condemn us every day, we need the gospel every day.

It's All Coming Back To Me Now

2008-08-10T18:49:00.000-04:00

As the great poet, Meat Loaf, sang, it's all coming back to me now! (Okay, so it's an entirely different context...) I've been spending some time digging back into recesses of my mind to recall my first semester of Hebrew which I took in the fall of 2006. A week from now, I'll take Hebrew Syntax & Exegesis at Southern and have to be up-to-speed by then. Thankfully I was taught by a brilliant teacher, Dr. Roy Beacham. As I was looking over his handouts tonight, I was reminded of what a fantastic job he did of imparting his "tricks of the trade" because it all flooded back in! So, thank you, Dr. Beacham!

How Much Did Christ Endure On the Cross?

2008-08-05T07:52:00.001-04:00

As I was thinking this morning about the Gospel while reading A Gospel Primer for Christians, I began thinking about the wrath of Christ endured on the cross. I deserve the wrath of God put on me for all my sin: every sin I've ever committed, every sin I'll commit today, and every sin I'll commit in the future. However, because of the faith that God put in me to hope in Christ alone, I have been justified by grace alone: Every single one of those sins have received their just penalty. I cannot mess up my position before God by wallowing around in the mud of sin today because He has already punished me for all those sins vicariously through Jesus Christ, my Proxy. The verdict that will be rendered to me on judgment day is innocent—the penalty (a blood sacrifice of infinite worth) has been paid for me.

Now here's the thought that sunk in pretty well this morning: The atonement on the cross covered all my sins and sealed my pardon on judgment day—in other words, my forgiveness was actually (for theologians, I realize that's where the rub is: actual versus potential, but I don't think that potential atonement has any ground to stand on Biblically) accomplished on the cross. Given that proposition, we have only two options in understanding who Jesus died for on the cross: If we say that Jesus died for every single human being, then we have to say that since Christ accomplished my forgiveness on the cross, then He accomplished forgiveness for everyone on the cross. If that's true, then on judgment day, everyone will be given a release pardon. Now if you think you can get a universal pardon out of texts like Revelation 20:15 then by all means, go ahead and believe that! (But personally I think you'd have to be smoking something illegal to get that kind of interpretation! J) Or, our only other logical option will be that Christ accomplished forgiveness for all those whom God predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

To put it simply:

Christ's work on the cross releases someone from their just penalty.
All will benefit from Christ's work on the cross.
Therefore, all will be released from their just penalty.

OR

Christ's work on the cross releases someone from their just penalty.
Only a certain number will benefit from Christ's work on the cross.
Therefore, only a certain number will be released from their just penalty.

If you're a little perturbed by this (that's a normal feeling!), you may be thinking, "That doesn't seem right, Paul. I don't agree with either of those." Here is likely what you believe then:

Christ's work on the cross made it possible for someone to be released from their just penalty.
Only a certain number will benefit from what was made possible for them on the cross.
Therefore, only a certain number will be released from their just penalty.

You wouldn't be heretical for thinking this. It's actually what most people I grew up with believe. For them, the "made possible" part is changed to "actualizes" once a person puts their faith in Christ. However, I cannot stand by that argument because of texts like Acts 20:28 where Paul says to the elders at Ephesus as he was leaving Miletus, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood" The work of Christ actually obtained for Him the Church of God through the shedding of His blood. He actually paid the price.

This brings such comfort to my soul because it helps me know that my justification is not a once-in-the-past event. My justification is a past-now-and-future event that is as sure as God's promises. That means that I can never ever step out of God's favor. God will never be angry (in a wrathful disposition towards me) with me because He already poured out His wrath upon me via my Proxy. It does not mean that God is not saddened, deeply, when I sin. But it does mean that He will always look on me with lovingkindness because He will always look on His Son with lovingkindness since I died with Christ and have been resurrected with Him to walk in newness of life! Rejoice in your salvation!

The everlasting righteousness By Horatius Bonar

A Different Direction For My Career

2008-07-31T11:22:00.000-04:00

Most of you are aware that I have been pursuing a degree in ministry and have been for some time. Since it has been taking so long, I thought maybe I would try a different direction in life. I mean, really, there aren't any good choices out there for candidates--I might as well throw my lot in!

HT: Thanks, Jim!

The Gospel. Not the ABC's of Getting Saved.

2008-07-29T05:44:00.002-04:00

Tim Keller, a pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, has written a very helpful article/study called "The Centrality of the Gospel." In this article, he helps you think out the practical ramifications of the Gospel to so many areas of life. He begins, though, by showing how the Gospel is not just the ABC's of getting "saved":

In Galatians 2:14, Paul lays down a powerful principle. He deals with Peter’s racial pride and cowardice by declaring that he was not living “in line with the truth of the gospel”. From this we see that the Christian life is a process of renewing every dimension of our life-- spiritual, psychological, corporate, social--by thinking, hoping, and living out the “lines” or ramifications of the gospel. The gospel is to be applied to every area of thinking, feeling, relating, working, and behaving. The implications and applications of Galatians 2:14 are vast. ...

First, Paul is showing us that that bringing the gospel truth to bear on every area of life is the way to be changed by the power of God. The gospel is described in the Bible in the most astounding terms. Angels long to look into it all the time. (I Peter 1:12). It does not simply bring us power, but it is the power of God itself, for Paul says "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation" (Rom.1:16).

Second, Paul is showing that we never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced”. The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all progress in the kingdom.

We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal.3:1-3) and are renewed (Col.1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier (Rom.1:16-17). It is very common in the church to think as follows. "The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience." But Col.1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and "hard work" that is not arising from and "in line" with the gospel will not sanctify you--it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed them "to the word of his grace, which can build you up" (Acts 20:32)

The main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel in and on all parts of our life. Richard Lovelace says that most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel--a failure to grasp and believe it through and through.

From The Valley of Vision, "The Gospel Way" (p62):

Glorious Trinity, impress the gospel on my soul,
until its virtue diffuses every faculty;
Let it be heard, acknowledged, professed, felt.
...
Take me to the cross to seek glory from its infamy;
Strip me of every pleasing pretence of righteousness by my own doings.

My Funny Wife

2008-07-28T09:24:00.000-04:00

There are so many things about Audrea that I love. One of them is her quick wit and sometimes all out silliness. Last night she said something that had us in tears...

I try to pretend that I'm somewhat of a coffee connosieur. I don't like to settle for your regular, run-of-the-mill coffees. The problem is--I honestly don't have a trained palate that can distinguish the nuances between fine coffees. Oh, I can usually tell if I'm drinking the good stuff, but I couldn't tell you the particular differences other than dark and bold versus light and mild.

So last night, Audrea and I were feeling pretty exhausted and goofing off looking at Facebook. She gets up to go put her empty coffee cup in the sink, and I tell her, "You know, these beans I bought today are from Mexico." And she replies, "Oh yeah, you can just taste the chihuahua."

THiPhone

2008-07-26T07:16:00.000-04:00

I hate having to preface a post with apologies, but I probably should just so my own family and friends affliated with PCC won't be offended. So, Cory, Jonathan, Amanda, Megan, Karen, Rob, and anyone else who I've left out: sorry, ahead of time. :)

Check out the new innovation coming soon for Fightin' Fundies!

You can read all about the details at TBNN.

Bonus points go out to anyone who can correctly identify the man in the "Sermons" icon and the theologian in the "Theology" link!

The Dark Side and Golf

2008-07-25T06:34:00.000-04:00

Some people just have an unfair advantage!

HT: C Michael. Patton

Call Me Paranoid...

2008-07-23T13:34:00.000-04:00

But Audrea and I are going to go with our intuition which we pray is being Spirit-led on this issue. Many of our friends feel that Miley Cyrus--aka, Hannah Montana--is harmless and at this point, simply fun for their girls. She may appear harmless at this point, but honestly, we think she's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Stay far away. Far, far away. The following are our sentiments on a recent article from Fox News:

Miley Cyrus wants to do a "younger, cleaner version of 'Sex and the City,'" the 15-year-old superstar told TV Guide. Cyrus previously told Vanity Fair that the HBO series is her favorite show. She later issued a statement clarifying that she only watches the edited, TBS version.

Oh, phew, that makes me feel better! Now she won't be exposed to the sex itself, just the ideas, values, and art of leading up to it. Here's more...

But while she may like "Sex and the City," she won't be having sex anytime soon. "I like to think of myself as the girl that no one can get, that no one can keep in their hand," she tells the magazine. As a testament to her virginity, Cyrus wears a purity ring.

Hey, it's cuter than one of those campy woven WWJD bracelets! Like the arrogance in the virginity statement? "I'll woo you like a plaything until I decide when"--I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she mentioned something about wanting to love God above herself somewhere else and that went unquoted.

“Even at my age, a lot of girls are starting to fall,” she says, “and I think if [abstaining] is a commitment girls make, that’s great.”

We're left struggling with the weight of what she didn't say...

We want our girls as far away from her as we can get. We don't trust her in the least--she sounds like a new Jessica Simpson who's all "pure" until she's 18 and daddy's not her manager and at her press releases anymore. Think about it: Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears both professed to be Christians early on in their careers. And need we further think on the Disney darlings Christina Aguilera, Vanessa Hudgens (of High School Musical fame), or Lindsday Lohan? All of these purported to be "clean and harmless entertainment" for pre-teen girls and all presented a worldview (while in their "innocent" period) that was not a God-centered worldview.

I seriously challenge you to think about what values are being portrayed by Miley Cyrus through her TV show, music, clothing, etc. I think it'll be a real stretch to say that it is anywhere near a Gospel-driven/God-centered worldview.

Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt.5

2008-07-22T20:59:00.001-04:00

Savannah has to wear this brace for 23 hours per day. It's a nuisance in the sense that it seems so uncomfortable and because of its inconvenience. Yet, we would be wrong to let Savannah have her way and not wear it. This brace should prevent the curve from getting worse and further, may, and already has, help correct the curve. We didn't see this coming though.

We knew Savannah was growing up like a weed, fast and tall, but it wasn't until someone outside of our family--our family doctor--examined her and pointed out what was so obvious to her: She has a crooked back. Even once we found out about the crooked back, there was nothing we, in and of ourselves, could do to stop the crookedness. Having a crooked back doesn't automatically correct itself. You don't wake up one morning with a curve in your spine and then another morning later, months down the road, wake up and find the curve is gone. We needed someone else who was much more capable of fixing the problem step in and address the issue. We needed a brace.

But purchasing a brace and having it custom-fitted to Savannah was not enough to fix her back. Accepting the brace into her life as something she owned was not enough. Everyday, every hour (of course with a few exceptions--baths, swimming, sports, etc--but hey, work with me on this!) she has to keep the brace on her. Her act of simply putting the brace on though, is not what fixes her back. The brace itself is what fixes her back.

It's an analogy and all analogies break down, but I think you can see the picture pretty clear (at least I hope so, otherwise, I'm praying that God will give you eyes to see and ears to understand):

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain.

We need a Savior. He is the One who picks us up from our state of deadness, changes our hearts of stone to hearts of flesh, places within us faith to believe, and causes us to repent and believe continually until the end. Dear friends, "continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard..." (Colossians 1:23)

Read about Savannah's Scoliosis
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 1
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 2
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 3
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 4

Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt.4

2008-07-12T11:03:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I mentioned in passing that one of the ramifications of scoliosis is social stigma. The researchers tend to gloss over this saying there isn’t any real danger to the patient’s health, yet there is a real issue here that must be faced: "As for the cosmetic concerns, the researchers state that the untreated people 'can develop significant deformity, and the cosmetic aspect cannot be disregarded.'" (Ref) In the article from the University of Maryland Medical Center, the real impact on the whole person is brought out: "The emotional impact of scoliosis, particularly on young girls or boys during their most vulnerable years, should not be underestimated. Adults who have had scoliosis and its treatments often recall significant social isolation and physical pain." The bottom line is—scoliosis can result in incredible shame and ridicule. And the Gospel speaks to this. Dramatically.

Hannah knew about shame—she was unable to have children and in those days that was the ultimate shame for a woman. 1 Samuel 1:6-7 said, “And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.” Then God rescued her from her shame and brought her a son.

Hannah’s deliverance is such a beautiful picture of what God does for us through the Atonement. There are two kinds of shame: the shame from being sinned against and the shame that comes from sinning. Christ became a man and fully realized what it meant to be shamed—sinned against. (Hebrews 2:14-18) But then He also took on all of our sin-shame and bore that in His body on the Cross. He who knew no shame because of sin became shameful for us that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)

We’ve talked with Savannah much about this and she realizes that when she’s made fun of about the brace to remind herself that Christ experienced the shame of being sinned against. But more importantly, though we are sinned against, our biggest problem is that we have sinned against God.

The emotional pain that comes from being made fun of should never be dismissed. There is much comfort knowing that in the end He will right every wrong that has ever been done to us. But there is even more comfort in knowing that if we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, every wrong we’ve ever committed against Him has already been punished and hence, forgiven.

Read about Savannah's Scoliosis
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 1
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 2
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 3
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 5

Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt.3

2008-07-11T10:24:00.001-04:00

What can happen if scoliosis is left untreated? According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, with...

Severe Scoliosis (over 70 degrees). If the curvature exceeds 70 degrees, the severe twisting of the spine that occurs in structural scoliosis can cause the ribs to press against the lungs, restrict breathing, and reduce oxygen levels. The distortions may also affect the heart and possibly cause dangerous changes.

And with...

Very Severe Scoliosis (Over 100 degrees). Eventually, if the curve reaches over 100 degrees, both the lungs and heart can be injured. Patients with this degree of severity are susceptible to lung infections and pneumonia. Curves greater than 100 degrees increase mortality rates, but this problem is very uncommon in America.

So in general, with more severe cases, scoliosis left untreated can be very dangerous. However most people with scoliosis simply experience back pain and social stigma (more on that tomorrow). For most, it comes down to a "quality of life" issue.

But what about sin? What happens if we leave sin "untreated"?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In our world, we tend to think, I'm okay with a little sin in my life but God has something else to say about that...

Read about Savannah's Scoliosis
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 1
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 2
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 4
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 5

Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt.2

2008-07-10T05:57:00.001-04:00

In order to be considered as scoliosis, the spine must have a curve on the xray at least greater than 10°. That's according to the Orthopaedic Surgery department at Massachusetts General Hospital. Our doctors have told us that once the curve is around 24 degrees or greater they start looking at what needs to be done about it. However, in the case of children growing very quickly, they will sometimes be proactive and introduce the brace earlier than that. Savannah's s-curve is 26° and her c-curve is 24° as you can see in her xray on the left. At the rate of her growth and with that degree of curvature, they were concerned enough that we should introduce the brace.

But for others, if the curve is less than 20° and the individual is done growing, the scoliosis can be left untreated. ...So being a little crooked is okay. That brings me to the second way that we as a family have observed that the Gospel applies to scoliosis: How crooked are we as humans and how crooked can we be and still be considered "ok"?

How Crooked Are We?

Psalm 14:1-3 tells us clearly how crooked we are as humans:

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

We're not just people who do bad things occasionally--we're thoroughly sinful people. In and of ourselves we will not do anything good that pleases God. Even the charitable actions we see of people in the midst of crises are acts enabled by the common grace that God gives to both the believer and unbeliever. In fact, we are so crooked, we are outright rebels. As C.S. Lewis put it, "Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms."^[1]

How Crooked Can We Be?

But even knowing that we are crooked people, we tend to think, "Well, I'm not as crooked as so-and-so. I mean look at him: he sleeps around on his wife." But that misses the point of how depraved we truly are. When the Bible says that the heart is desperately wicked and without cure (Jeremiah 17:9), it means that we are just as incurably sinful as the sinner next door. In fact, if left to yourself, you will destroy others around you and yourself. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. has said, “Any sin that any sinner ever committed, every sinner under proper provocation could commit.”^[2]

How Crooked Can God Allow?

But we say, "Well, the doctor says being a little crooked is 'ok'." And we tell ourselves that: "God will accept me since I'm only a little crooked." But we've already said that we're not just "a little crooked"--we're thoroughly sinful people. And in fact, James says that if we have broken God's law in one point, we have become accountable for all of it (James 2:10). God cannot simply overlook any sin at all out of a so-called "love". He is holy and just and if He would overlook any sin, He would be unloving to His Son on whom He poured out all His wrath for all my sins. It would be entirely unjust for God to simply overlook any of our crookedness. Our crookedness deserves eternal punishment.

And this is how scoliosis reminds us of the Gospel: When I look at how crooked I truly am and realize that Jesus Christ paid the perfect sacrifice for my crookedness, I am overwhelmed at the amazing love shown to me. This is truly Good News--the Gospel.

Read about Savannah's Scoliosis
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 1
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 3
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 4
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 5

[1]C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952), 59.
[2]Dr. Bob Jones Sr., Dr. Bob Jones Says (radio talks)—Psalms tape series number 9 (ca. 1949)

Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt.1

2008-07-09T15:38:00.001-04:00

The fact that our children are being dealt this condition of having a crooked back has a direct relationship to the Gospel. How? First, realize that sin in the Garden resulted in alienation between God and all of His creation. Paul states clearly that because of sin, creation itself was subjected to decay in Romans 8:-19-21:

Romans 8:19-21 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

What is amazing here is that Paul says that creation is waiting for redemption just like man waits for redemption. All of the pain and suffering we experience here in the now is intended to remind us that things in this world are not the way they’re supposed to be. As C.S. Lewis put it in Till We Have Faces, “Nothing is yet in its true form.” And when we realize this, it should stir up within us a longing for the restoration of all things when Christ will make all things new (Rev. 21:5, Psalm 102:25-27).

However, not everyone puts the problem of pain as being the work of the hand of God. If we take the materialistic approach to creation (i.e. believing that bad things just happen outside of God’s control), then as Vern Poythress puts it, “… that means that evil and suffering are inherent in the very nature of things, so there is no hope of finally eliminating wickedness. This is futility indeed, leading to despair.”

But God has not left us to despair—there is an actual connection to the Gospel. On the cross, Christ accomplished not only our salvation, but also secured the future restoration of all things. This is what Paul means when He says that God was pleased to reconcile all things to Himself by “making peace by the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:16-20). And just as in Christ we will be resurrected, because of Christ, all of non-human creation will be restored:

“Christ's resurrection is the pattern for our resurrection. And according to Romans 8:21 our resurrection is the pattern for the liberation of creation. Thus Christ is at the center, both for us and for creation. This should not be surprising, when we realize that he is Creator and Lord of the entire cosmos (Col. 1:15-17). Since he is Creator, he is also Savior and Lord who redeems the entire cosmos from “futility,” the effects of the Fall (Col. 1:18-20). First comes creation, then redemption as the restoration of creation, and finally consummation as the goal of creation. All three hang together in the purpose of God. He accomplishes all three through his Son, the one Mediator.” (ibid. Poythress)

So how does the Gospel relate to Savannah and Sabrina’s scoliosis? It reminds us that infirmities are the result of the curse and that because of what our Saviour accomplished on the Cross, all of our infirmities will be eliminated in the end. Our focus then is not on the present pain and suffering of life, but on the end goal for which we were created—eternity with God, enjoying Him forever—and which was made possible by Christ’s perfect sacrifice for us!

Read about Savannah's Scoliosis
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 2
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 3
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 4
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 5

Scoliosis

2008-07-08T08:56:00.001-04:00

Scoliosis is a condition where your spine has an unnatural curve in it and results in a misalignment of nearly every other bone in your body. The curve can be either an "s-shaped" (a thoracic) or "c-shaped" (a lumbar) curve.

At Savannah's last well-child doctor visit in Minneapolis, the doctor discovered that she has scoliosis and is bad enough that she should be x-rayed. After checking the x-rays, she recommended that Savannah go to the Twin Cities Spine Center. We went there and they did some initial checking and said that with her current degree of curvature, given her rate of growth, she could have a very bad case of scoliosis by the time she is done growing.

Once we moved here to Louisville she started going to the Norton Spine Institute and working with a doctor who trained under her doctor in Minneapolis. If the scoliosis is advanced enough there are only 2 treatment options--bracing or surgery. Surgery is reserved for very bad cases. Savannah's curve is not bad enough to warrant surgery but is enough to require a brace. There are different kinds of braces made depending on the type of scoliosis you have. Savannah has both thoracic and lumbar and was custom fitted for a brace that she must wear 23 hours per day (except for when athletic activities are too difficult to perform with it--then she can remove it).

Below you can see Savannah sporting her new equipment. The point of the brace is to stop the curve from getting worse while she grows--so she has to wear this brace until her body stops growing. It is uncomfortable at times and can be hot to wear in this humidity, yet if she doesn't wear it, the results can be dramatic.

Sabrina has also been diagnosed with this condition and is being monitored to see if she will need a brace. While being monitored she is undergoing chiropractic care to help her remain flexible and potentially help improve the condition.

This has been a very interesting trial in our life. If you read my blog at all, it shouldn't come as a surprise to you, though, that I believe there are connections between the Gospel and Scoliosis. I hope to expound in those in the coming days. In the meantime, you can read more about scoliosis at these links:

Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 1
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 2
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 3
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 4
Scoliosis and the Gospel Pt. 5

My Electronic Pablum

2008-07-05T10:54:00.001-04:00

I mentioned yesterday using an online service called Quantum Link by in the 80's. I was curious about what there was out there on the Internet about it and found the video below which an advertisement for it from 1986. What was amazing about this service was that it provided the basic services that the Internet browser brought to the public 2 or 3 years after the first browser was launched around 1993.

I used a Commodore 64 computer like the one pictured in this post and connected to the service using a 300 baud modem. (For those of you who aren't real tech aware--your old modem that you used to dial-up your Internet provider was likely a 56,000 baud modem!) Notice all the basic services that are described in this video. There's even a reference to a virtual world which is the same concept behind the current rage of SecondLife.

Enjoy the laughs!

Just When You Thought You'd Seen Everything...

2008-07-04T21:32:00.001-04:00

I've been using the internet since 1989 (back before there were browsers there were connected communities--I used Quantum Link which later became AOL) and have been using the Internet proper since 1996 for work virtually every day. I've seen a lot of crazy and often amazing things on it. So it's very rare when I come across something new on the Internet that I don't say "oh yeah, I've seen that before." Tonight, Josh Harris posted a link to an amazing video that was one of those things I hadn't seen! I looked up the url at the end of the video and read about this guy named Matt Harding. Apparently, Dancing Matt has been around for a while! You can visit his site here. In the meantime, here is the amazing video:

From Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

The Debt of the Image-Bearer

2008-06-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we visited a wonderful little church that Dr. Scott's wife, Zondra, recommended to us: Baxter Avenue Baptist Church. The people were genuinely friendly and very down-to-earth. The pastor, Ben Lairamore, is preaching through Mark and was on the passage where the People try to trap Jesus by asking Him whether you should pay taxes to Caesar or not. The well-known passage is a great example of the profound wisdom displayed by Wisdom Himself. Ben brought out a point that I either forgot about or never heard because it seeemed new to me yesterday...

In Mark 12:13-17, Jesus asks the Pharisees and the Herodians whose image was stamped on the coin. To the response of "Caesar" Jesus posits that whatever has the image stamped on it belongs to the owner of which the image reflects. He then says, "Give to God what belongs to God." This enthymeme is huge! It begs the question, "What belongs to God?" Following off of His logic, the answer would be: "Whatever has God's image stamped upon it." All things reflect, though dimly because of the curse, the glory of God (Psalm 19:1-4) but more explicitly, human beings reflect God's glory because they are all made in His image (Genesis 1:27). So what does that mean for us? It means that we are not our own. We belong to God as His creatures made by His command. We are in complete dependence upon Him and therefore, we cannot claim any rights of our own. We owe God everything for in Him we live and move and have our very being (Acts 17:28) and because all things were created for Him, by Him, and through Him (Colossians 1:16). And if God ordains all that comes to pass, then everything and everyone is under His command and who am I to question that!?

"Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth." (Job 40:4)

Ben's whole message can be heard here.

The Gospel, Preaching, and Counseling

2008-06-26T07:20:00.001-04:00

This is what I'm looking for in our search for a church, in my personal ministry to my wife and children, in my future ministry as a pastor, and in my life from my friends... you should too.

(By Thabiti Anyabwile)

via Pure Church by FellowElder on 6/16/08

From C. John Miller, Repentance and 21st Century Man (pp. 94-95, 97-98):

But today many hold back part of the truth through ignorance or state the truth abstractly and narrowly, or fail to give the gospel the cutting edge of specific application. This means that sinners are being robbed of the opportunity to repent by a message which is dulled by pride and self-dependence.

What is needed therefore is a humbling among the bearers of the gospel. At present complacency is the biggest single stumbling block to the ministry of the Spirit. The need of the hour is for bold, loving preaching by those who will not rest until the Lord establishes Jerusalem as a praise in the earth (Isa. 62:6-7).

Effective counseling is principally a carrying forward in private of specific applications of the preaching ministry in the church. The gospel message is announced boldly in a public context and given added effectiveness by a one-to-one follow-up in dealing with particular idols which Christ wants removed from each of our lives. Such confrontation in preaching and counseling involves a sensitivity to the heart cries of men. It combines tears and truth, as we bow together before the discipline of God's Word.

The warfare here is spiritual and calls for great courage on the part of God's ambassadors.

Courage!

Courage to ask if you are lulling men to sleep by a message that fosters self-congratulation rather than repentance to life.

Courage first to teach your own heart and then to teach others that there are only two ways to stand before God: either as a contrite publican or as a self-righteous Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14).

It will not be easy to tell those outside of Christ that their lives are built on presumption and pretense. And it will not be easy to tell confessing Christians that they, too, have taken for granted God's blessings upon their lives. ...

Pastor, how many officers in your church live only on the resources of a past Christian experience whose fires have long ago gone out?

How many separated saints have allowed the joints of the gospel armor to rust together through secret pride?

And what about the churches which have become gossip centers without anyone honestly facing up to the fact?

But, preacher, you have the answer.

Man is oppressed by the law of sin and death.

Man is oppressed by a guilty conscience and the prospect of divine judgment.

However, you have the gospel message which can change all of this. From it men learn of a bleeding sacrifice which does what the law of sin and death could never do. It brings expiation for sins and the washing of the conscience through a new dominion established by Jesus' resurrection.

In this message Christ, the risen Lord, is set forth in all His glory (2 Cor. 3:18). He can do what no mere human counseling can do. By turning to the Lord, i.e., by repenting, man can come into possession of this divine splendor revealed in Christ (2 Cor. 3:16-18).

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Communicating the Gospel to a Toddler

2008-06-25T08:06:00.001-04:00

How do you communicate the Gospel to a toddler? How can your discipline of your child actually be "pleasant words"? John Younts at Shepherd Press does a fantastic job of answering this question. Read it for yourself and discuss with your spouse, friends, parents.

Love Is Self-Sacrificial

2008-06-19T08:52:00.000-04:00

From Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges, p138:

The extent of God's love at Calvary is seen in both the infinite cost to Him of giving His one and only Son, and in the wretched and miserable condition of those He loved. God could not remove our sins without an infinite cost to both Himself and His Son. And because of their great love for us, both were willing--yes more than merely willing--to pay that great cost, the Father in giving His one and only Son, and the Son in laying down His life for us. One of the essential characteristics of love is the element of self-sacrifice, and this was demonstrated for us to its ultimate in God's love at Calvary.

Learn to Confess Your Sins

2008-06-16T09:15:00.001-04:00

Though this article below by "Mark" from "Seminary Survival Guide" was written to seminary students, it applies to all of us. This element of being a disciple is so critical. So, so critical.

via Seminary Survival Guide.com by Mark on 6/16/08

Confession is a much neglected discipline in Protestant life, despite the clear biblical command to "confess your sins to one another and pray for each other that you may be healed." (James 5:16) Speaking your depravity out loud to a listening brother or sister in Christ is one of the most powerful means of sanctification I've ever seen. I'm a big proponent of it, because nothing frees me from my sin faster than shining the cold light of my brother's gaze on it.

There's just one problem. I hate confessing my sins.

I mean I really hate it. Viscerally. It makes me squirm and writhe down to the very core of my soul to say out loud what I was thinking or what I was doing or what I was looking at. You'd think I was undergoing exorcism (which, in a way, is exactly what's happening). I'd almost rather do anything than confess my sins. I'd rather hide my sins and play the "Oh-I'm-fine" church game for all eternity.

So I'm still learning the discipline of confession. My counsel to seminary students is to join me.

Since most of our readers are from Christian traditions in which confession is not a formal practice, I offer a few thoughts on its implementation

Choosing a Confessor. You need a mature Christian friend of the same gender who knows you well enough and is mature enough to handle your depravity. They should love you and you should be reasonably comfortable with them. If you don't have any relationships of this quality, you can go to a pastor or counselor as an intermediate measure.

However, the absence of quality friendships in which confession of sins is possible is a big problem. You need friends like this. Be sure that the real problem isn't your unwillingness to be transparent.

Beware of confessing to new Christians or emotionally immature people. I've learned the hard way that not everyone can handle the responsibility of hearing about my depravity. This is especially true for people in ministry, because ordinary Christians sometimes put us on a pedestal. It's important that we find safe people.

Full Honesty. God desires "truth in the inner parts (Psalm 51:6) Even as we confess our sin, we're inclined to qualify, justify and minimize it, giving reasons why it's not as bad as it sounds, etc. Forget that. In confession, we embrace the glorious truth is that Christ is our justification and we need no other. True confession abandons all self-justification, looks our depravity full in its face and holds nothing back.

Don't Play Language Games. When you're confessing, do not qualify your sin by saying you're "struggling" with it. No you're not. You're sinning. Deliberately.

Abraham Piper is incisive:

We're not porn-addicts; we "struggle with lust."
We're not arrogant; we "struggle with pride."
With a simple cliché our sins become palatable.

C. J. Mahaney has great counsel, too:

A sincere confession of sin should be specific ("I was arrogant and angry when I made that statement; will you please forgive me for sinning against you in this way?") and brief (this shouldn't take long). When I find myself adding an explanation to my confession, I'm not asking forgiveness but instead appealing for understanding.

Confess Early

I have a close friend from college who's also in ministry. We call each other when we're facing or giving in to sexual temptation. It's always best when I call him at the first sign of trouble:

It halts the downhill slide of my depravity
The earlier I do it, the less I have to confess
My confessing inspires him to come clean about his failures (and vice versa)

Confess Regularly

I'm not of the school of thought that we have to verbally name every sin we commit. I'm not even sure that's possible. There's no question, however, that we would benefit greatly from a regular pattern of confession of sin. Think of how much pride would be derailed if every week we named our sins out loud to a loving friend in Christ!

When hearing confessions:

Be gracious. Once a person has come to a point of admitting their sin, they usually don't need us piling on telling them how awful it is, unless they're being evasive. Our primary function is to minister the grace and forgiveness of Christ to them. "Watch yourselves, lest you too be tempted." (Galatians 6:1) Beware of any arrogance of superiority about your brother's failings.

Don't say it's all right when it's not. Say only things that are true: You have sinned, you are loved, you are forgiven. It's a chance to be priestly to each other.

Encourage preventative and restorative measures. This may mean memorizing scripture, praying in a certain way, confessing sin to an injured party, taking steps of restoration or repayment, the end of a relationship, a change in schedule, a filter on a computer, or even counseling or some kind of intervention.

Don't try to fix them. You are not the Holy Spirit. It's not your job to sanctify them, or to "make sure this never happens again."

Don't get over your head. Remember that you're a brother and not a professional counselor-don't try to solve problems that are too big for you. At my church, we refer people with serious issues to Christian counselors all the time. We still love, pray and support them,

Always pray together. Prayer brings the presence of God into the confession experience in a very cleansing and affirming way.

"A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

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Free At Last, Free At Last

2008-06-13T16:04:00.000-04:00

The closing of our home in Maple Grove completed today at 3:30 CST! Praise the Lord together with us!

Obama or McCain May Help Spread the Gospel?

2008-06-12T07:59:00.000-04:00

I've heard many Christians lament lately about the choice of candidates for this upcoming presidential election. They are sure that the country is about to change and for the worse. I refuse to make such prognostications, but one thing I am sure of is that God will use which ever man He puts into the Oval Office to accomplish His purposes. In fact, as John Newton puts it, God may use whichever individual to actually purify the Church and spread the Gospel!

From The Works of the Rev. John Newton ... By John Newton

Sudden Destruction Coming Soon

2008-06-11T08:16:00.000-04:00

Psalm 33:10-11 The Lord foils all the plans oft he nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.

(Judges 16:23-31) God will have the last word. Samson in his death killed more than in his whole life. The Philistines were rejoicing in their victory, praising Dagon for his great power. They had no clue what was about to come upon them. The judgment they deserved for blaspheming a holy and righteous God came down upon them in sudden destruction. That was it. They were done and God had the last word.

So it will be when Christ comes back. People will be reveling in their sin, thinking that the LORD is out of the picture and then sudden destruction will come. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 that the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly and will bring "sudden destruction." There will be no escape.

But Paul encourages us to put on the Gospel now--both believers and unbelievers--so that we will be protected by Him who can save us by His blood. The NLT says that though the sudden destruction is coming soon, Christ died so we can live with Him forever:

For God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out His anger on us. He died for us so that we can live with Him forever, whether we are dead or alive at the time of His return. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 NLT)

I Am Your Hell--and You Are My Heaven

2008-05-30T14:16:00.000-04:00

From Thomas Brooks' The Unsearchable Riches of Christ: A Cabinet of Jewels in The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks By Thomas Brooks, Alexander Balloch Grosart

HT: First Importance

The Space Between the Wall and My Van

2008-05-30T07:45:00.000-04:00

The house we are renting here in Louisville has a huge 2 1/2 car garage with plenty of room to store all of our children's toys, strollers, and bikes at the end of the garage and yet be able to walk around the vehicles when parked in the garage. This is a huge contrast to the so-called 2-car garage we had in Minnesota. There, we had to park the van and the car next to each other with their side mirrors overlapping--about 6 inches between each vehicle all just to be able to get out of our vehicles. It was pretty tight. So the other day as I was getting out of the van, I realized how much you appreciate things like open space when you didn't have it before. Not only am I incredibly blessed to have two vehicles I own, I am blessed with an abundance of stuff to put into a garage.

But you know what thought hit me harder than all of that? Most people in the world outside of Disneyland-America live with all of their possessions... in a space that would fit between the wall and my van.

The Gospel for a Perfect Memory

2008-05-29T10:20:00.000-04:00

What it would be like to have a near-perfect memory? Jill Price knows. Since around the age of 12, Jill has remembered almost every minute detail of her life:

From a 20/20 Interview, By Keturah Gray and Katie Escherich, May 9, 2008:

"I am in the moment, but I also have, like this split screen in my head. I always explain it to people like I'm walking around with a video camera on my shoulder. And every day is a videotape. So if you throw a date out at me, it's as if I pulled a videotape out, put in a VCR and just watched the day. As it happened. From my point of view. "I walk around with my life right next to me”
Price remembers what she was doing on those days, just as she relives every moment of her life, good and bad. It's not just the look of her first crush that she remembers, it's the painful sting of rejection. Price acknowledges that it can be paralyzing.
… Many people think that Price's gift may be a dream, but she says "it's good and bad" and can sometimes feel like being a prisoner of her own past.
… "She was not easy," Price's mother Roz said of her childhood. "And that's because everything that was going through her head she couldn't explain. There were things I would think to myself, 'Why doesn't she just get over that?' said her brother Mike. "And I realize now that … a year passing for something, for me, you know, I've forgotten it already. But, obviously she doesn't."
… Price's experience serves as a reminder that our lives and happiness may be shaped not only by what we remember, but by what we choose to forget.

Can you even begin to imagine what this would be like? There could definitely be some benefits! Think about the advantage you would have in playing Trivial Pursuit! Or, as she pointed out on an NPR interview, you would never ever forget where you put your keys, your purse, your glasses, etc. But as was pointed out in the interview, it would also be crippling.

Yesterday, your kids drove you up the wall and you let out words you wish you could take back. Today that scene would keep playing over and over. But if you were Jill, it wouldn’t stop there. Not only would you remember it vividly tomorrow, next month, next year, and the next decade, but you would also with superb clarity remember every time you had done something like that before and how the pain would just compound like an unrelenting charge-card bill.

This condition of Jill’s has only been discovered in the last couple of years, and the only thing they can do for her right now is analyze her. So far, they’ve only confirmed 5 other people with the same condition.[1] Is there any hope for this to stop? Probably not in this lifetime.

As a person who believes that our biggest problem in life is not what happens to us, but what is inside us—sin—Jill’s problem reminds me of how the Gospel is for both unbelievers and believers. How so? First, one of God’s purposes in the Cross was to redeem all things from the curse of sin (Colossians 1:19‑20). Because Christ paid the price due for sin (a righteous man with inherent infinite worth), He removed the barrier that occurred from Adam’s sin. Adam’s sin resulted in the curse affecting all of creation including our physical minds including Jill’s mind. But you may be thinking, “But Christ died on the cross 2000 years ago and it sure looks like nothing’s been redeemed yet in creation.” In our eyes, it’s hard for us to see clearly because our vision is so myopic, but from the moment Christ began his earthly ministry, God began redeeming back creation.[2] God sees His plan of redemption holistically knowing the end from the beginning. So, slowly, God is changing things—through the power of the Gospel, He is redeeming back everything. This redemption will be climaxed at His return when He will finish what He started, when He will judge all the wrongs, and fix all that has been broken. Until that time, things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. So, the Gospel first applies to Jill, and all of us, in remembering that all that is messed up in creation will be redeemed back completely because of what Christ accomplished at the center of history on the Cross.

Secondly, the Gospel applies to life right now. While the God who made the Universe and everything in it has the power to miraculously fix her brain right now to stop remembering all of her past sin, I couldn’t promise her that it would stop just because she would place her faith in Christ alone. I don’t know Jill and whether she has placed her faith in Christ alone to save her, but let’s say for the sake of the story that she has only recently repented and believed in the Gospel. And for the sake of the story, let’s say that He didn’t heal her brain and she has to go on living with this pain of an unforgiving memory every day. What is she to do? How does the Gospel apply to her right now?

Sometimes even as people who have been forgiven of all of our sin, we tend to be more aware of our sin than of grace. I have a legalistic tendency when I’m overwhelmed by my present sin or past sins to make promises like reading the Bible more, praying more, be more involved, start fasting, but, as Jerry Bridges points out, “Our promises of future obedience, however sincere, do not resolve condemnation for past sin.” (The Gospel for Real Life, p43) This is one reason how the Gospel applies to me every day—one reason why I need to preach this truth to myself everyday: Romans 8:1 tells me that because of what Christ has done, there is now no condemnation. There is total forgiveness. When I am conscious of the sins in my life, I must remember that the solution to combating sin is not simply to introduce more spiritual disciplines (which are necessary for my spiritual sustenance), but to come to the Cross and once again confess to God my sin, despise it for what it is, and thank Him for the total forgiveness He accomplished on the cross.

But Jill and we need to understand even more practically what to do with memories of the past. Robert Jones points out how God wants to redeem your memories now, not remove them. He says that the Gospel helps us remember three things: God was in your past, your past does not control your future, and your memories result from your interpretation of your past. (Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, pp4-7) A great example of how this works out can be seen in how the Apostle Paul himself dealt with his memories of his past. He says in 1 Timothy 1:12-17:

¹²I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, ¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul starts off sounding like he was only formerly a great sinner and we would think that the next thing he would say (in light of all the great things in his life) is that he is now something much better. But what does he say? He says that he is still the foremost sinner—or literally, the most sinning sinner. He follows with that wonderful conjunction but. But I received mercy. Paul does not glory in his own accomplishments or wallow in his present failures, He glories in the fact that in light of what he is, he yet received mercy and forgiveness at the Cross. And this mercy seen in his life is an outward demonstration to others to draw them to receive the same forgiveness. Finally, this granting of mercy pulls us to worship the One because He alone can grant mercy and forgiveness!

Here’s an even more startling fact: Jill’s memories and your own memories of sin can be transformed to make them precious to you. What? How in the world? Jones says this: “… when the dandelions of your past spring up—unwelcome and uninvited—you must seize them as opportunities to remember the cross. ‘Yes, Lord, I sinned, and I am ashamed,’ you confess. ‘But Jesus paid for my sin. He absorbed the wrath that I deserved. I am now forgiven—fully forgiven—as far as the east is from the west. Please weed these memories from my mind. But until you do, I will praise you for your saving grace in Jesus my Lord.’” (Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, p19)

This is why and how we need the Gospel as believers. We are people who at times are overwhelmed with the reality of our frailty and failures. If you’re Jill, you may be overwhelmed all the time. But the power of Gospel is greater than all powers—it is the power of God Himself! (Romans 1:16) You need reminder of the total forgiveness on a daily basis and the only place for this is accomplished is in a cross-centered life.

[1]An excerpt from her book The Woman Who Can’t Forget can be read on this NPR webpage: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90596530
[2]This is why Jesus said things like He did in Matthew 12:28 when He said that when miracles occur around you, you should realize that the Kingdom of God is here. This the proverbial tension of the already and the not yet.

T4G Musings, Part 3

2008-05-19T11:44:00.000-04:00

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today on a heralding from UCC president, John Thomas, to a congregation and the world, "Friends, we need a sacred conversation on race." They were led in a corporate prayer acknowledging to God, "You created us in divine likeness, diverse and beautiful, but too often, we have failed to see every race and every person as a reflection of your image." From the UCC's website, it appears that the goal in mind is to "have a conversation on race" that will lead to "develop processes that will lead to productive dialogue and action."

While I'm sure that you find this very interesting, you're probably wondering what in the world this has to do with the "Together for the Gospel" conference! Bear with me...

On the church's website, you'll find a document designed to spell out the presuppositions undergirding this new campaign on fighting racism. In "Principles and Assumptions Underlying a Conversation on Race", assumption #6 states,

People who understand that racism is rooted in a 400 year old system of economic exploitation, and that it was constructed, rationalized, and legitimized for economic gain, are less likely to see it as innate to humans and, therefore, inevitable. Racism was socially constructed, therefore, not given in “nature”. “nature”.[i]

Here is where I want to bring in the third conference session from T4G: Thabiti Anyabwile woke nearly everyone up at the conference by beginning his session saying that "We all have the wrong assumptions about race." He delivered on his premise. Everyone I've talked to about this session agreed that he brought us into a paradigm shift. The liberal UCC denomination on the surface appears to be starting to say the same thing that caused my mind to start changing: "Racism was socially constructed, therefore, not given in 'nature.'" Posited this way as "racism" I think many people could understand what they are saying. However, Thabiti took us much further than simple racism--he said the what we call "race" does not even exist! I'll say it again so that you don't skim over it: Race does not exist.

So if you're not mind-boggled yet, hang on! How can he say that what we call "race" does not exist? It comes down to unbiblical thinking. We have missed the boat entirely. How is this unbiblical? He argues that we are all genealogical descendants of Adam and as as sons of Adam, we are all made in the image of god (the imago dei). Check it out from Genesis:

1:26-28 says that we are made in God's likeness.
3:20 brings out the biological unity of all mankind.
5:1-3 shows that in the genealogy of Adam Seth is a man in "the image of Adam" and Adam is in "the image of God."
9:5-6 shows the value in mankind because we are still made in imago dei!
10:1, 32 demonstrate the continuity from Noah in all three of his children. Races have often been pointed towards specific sons of Noah, but here we see that they all are in the image of Noah who was in the image of his father and so on.

In the 17th and 18th centuries Genesis 10 was used to develop a theology of race attempting to answer where races come from, where the apparent biological discontinuity is coming from. However, Thabiti pointed out that Genesis 10 is about "ethnicities." The term race commonly argues that there are essential biological differences whereas ethnicities is a fluid construct that includes language, nationalities, citizenship, cultural patterns, and is not rooted in biology. Race is a myth.

Our continuity with each other and Adam is the emphasis of Scripture. Our basis for identity is in Adam and hence the imago dei.

Thabiti then challenged us with 6 reasons for abandoning race. Race ...

... encourages abuse of people and Scripture
... is a short step from race to racism (It's a matter of degree, not kind.)
... prevents/hinders meaningful engagement with others
... denies the authority/sufficiency of Scripture (i.e. You won't find race in Scripture)
... leads to resisting the conviction of the Holy Spirit
... undermines the Gospel itself in the work of missions (if not all people are descended from Adam, then not all are in need of salvation)

So the next time you see someone who looks different than you, remember that person is a son or daughter of Adam and in need of grace as much as you are. Extend the mercy and grace you've received...

For those of us who really wanted to dig into this topic more, Thabiti recommended two books (which I plan to purchase and read eventually!) that can help us think carefully, biblically along these lines:

From Every People and Nation, by Hays and Carson
The Forging of Races, by Colin Kidd

[i] The reference to a "400 year old system" is likely to the arrival of African slaves in St. Augustine, Florida delivered by Spanish conquistador Pedro Menéndez in 1565.

My Greatest Enemy

2008-05-16T08:08:00.001-04:00

My biggest enemy is not Satan. He gets way too much credit. My biggest enemy is not the world. It gets focused on way too much as well. My biggest enemy is in me. Inside Paul Fuller’s own inner man is his Public Enemy #1.

Why is this so? Think about it this way (from Kris Lundgaard's The Enemy Within):

Literature smolders with hatred: Shylock aches for his pound of flesh in The Merchant of Venice. Javert dogs Jean Valjean through sixteen hundred pages of Les Miserables. C. S. Lewis's arch-villain Weston degenerates from thug in Out of the Silent Planet to "un-man" in Perelandra, ripping open the backs of frogs with his thumbnail and leaving them to die. But none of these can sustain a pure hatred to match Captain Ahab's eternal malice in Moby Dick. Ahab chases the White Whale across the oceans of the world. He doesn't blink to forfeit his ship and every life it carries, if only he can heave his harpoon into that terrible eye.

Moby Dick is a picture of our savage battle: let the White Whale stand for God--but don't be quick to make Captain Ahab the flesh. Ahab is the whale's enemy, but Paul says the flesh is more than God's enemy: it is the enmity, the hostility the pure hatred itself. The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:7 NKJV)

If the whale is God and Ahab's hatred is the flesh, then who is Captain Ahab?

You were.

. . . .

If there were the least thing about God that the flesh could appreciate, the believer could have a constant shelter and retreat from sin and its hatred. If the flesh didn't mind God's wisdom, for example, the soul could meditate on the mystery of the gospel day and night without tiring, and find constant strength in God's plan to save him. But the flesh hates everything about God. Since it resists everything about God, it resists every way we try to taste him and know him and love him. And the more something enables us to find God and feast on him, the more violently the flesh fights against it.

In other words, the more you fight against sin by seeing and savoring God, the harder your flesh is going to fight against that since it hates everything about God. Lundgaard continues:

It takes its battle to every quarter of the soul: When the mind wants to know God, the flesh imposes ignorance, darkness, error, and trivial thoughts. The will can't move toward God without feeling the weight of stubbornness holding it back. And the affections, longing to long for God, are constantly fighting the infection of sensuality or the disease of indifference.

Captain Ahab was driven by his rage to chase the whale to the end. The flesh is just as driven, and will with its last breath spit at God. But there is in us a Warrior just as committed to the flesh's destruction. The Spirit wars against the flesh (Galatians 5:17). Filled with the Spirit, empowered by God's love of us and our love for him, we turn on the flesh with our Captain's own curse:

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering flesh; to the last I grapple with thee; from heaven's heart I stab at thee; for love's sake I spit my last breath at thee.

Don't underestimate the power of the flesh and its bent towards sin. If you do, it will destroy you. It will destroy you. Sin crouches at your door and wants to master you (Genesis 4:7). John Piper says it this way: “Nobody goes to hell because of Satan. The only reason we go to hell is sin. Much more important than fighting Satan is fighting sin.” Listen here about how critical this battle truly is.

Who Defines God's Goodness?

2008-05-15T06:40:00.000-04:00

Jonah 3:10 - 4:1 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

From Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, Light for the Path by Edward T. Welch (Winston-Salem: Punch Press, 2004), pp. 170-71.

God is good. The character of God has infinite facets. “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, and truth.”[i] Of these and many other attributes, Scripture often emphasizes that God is great and good, powerful and loving. In Jonah’s book, these qualities are on display. The crux of the book is Jonah’s defense. “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2). The problem is that this knowledge didn’t make a difference. If anything, it made things worse, at least from Jonah’s perspective.
Odd, given Jonah’s confidence in God’s love, that he would avoid trusting him. Didn’t he believe that God was also merciful to Israel? But his experience matches our own. We might believe that God loves us, but we aren’t so sure he will give us what we want. We want to be loved, and we also want to dictate the way and by whom we are loved. Jonah believed that God was gracious and compassionate, but he wanted love served up as judgment and destruction against his enemies.
Confession is once again the way out. With Jonah and us, when our desires depart from God’s, they become idolatrous. We don’t want anything to get between us and our object of worship. Jonah didn’t want to submit to God; he wanted to be a god.
Confession is when we acknowledge the against-God root of our behaviors. It is the beginning of a process where we turn away from our self-focused desires and turn to the Holy God. When we turn, we realize that we had a very small view of his love. In Jonah’s case, he believed that God was good, but he didn’t really believe it. He believed that his own plans were better. His myopic vision of God’s love was such that he believed that if God was good to one nation, he couldn’t bless another. He didn’t understand that God could be good to both Nineveh and Jerusalem.
Perhaps you agree that God is good. You know what Christ has done, and you believe that the cross is evidence of God’s goodness. But his goodness doesn’t make a difference to you. It is irrelevant because good is defined on your terms rather than God’s. Like a child, the satisfaction of your plans, your wants, and your desires is the standard for God’s goodness. Jonah tells us that good must be defined by God’s terms, not our own. Otherwise, we are standing in judgment of God.

[i]Westminster Confession of Faith, Shorter Catechism, Question 4.

When Horsin' Around Gets Out of Hand

2008-05-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

So here's the rest of the story about our little visit to Uncle Rick and Aunt Karen's farm... Sometime after breakfast on Saturday, Savannah and Sabrina went riding again. I was itching to get up there myself and take Elayna. Our turn came, I climbed up, and Rick tossed Elayna up there with me. The girls had been wearing their bicycle helmets for safety, and asked me if I was going to wear mine. I said, "No, we're just going to take a little walk and get down."

We started walking around the house, and the horse started trotting. Then he sped up a little bit. By this time Elayna is crying and not happy about bouncing on a saddle. I'm telling the horse, "whoa" and nothing's happening. After nearly careening into the pond, Rick managed to get Star to stop so we could get Elayna down. So far, the trotting was kind of fun, nothing too crazy.

So after Rick takes Elayna, he tells me, don't pull too hard on his reigns because his mouth is sensitive. Then I give him a little nudge with my heel and Star took off trotting right away. We came to the end of the fence and I thought I would turn him around and come back, but he had other plans. He heads the opposite direction around the fence and off towards the woods. By now he was galloping fairly fast and I'm sitting on this junior saddle hanging on for dear life. He plows on into the woods and runs through the bramble bushes and my face gets scratched up. We come out of the woods and start down a hill back towards the barn. I thought, "Good, we'll be done with this in a minute." Then he starts galloping even faster down the hill. It was all I could do to hang on. I honestly thought I was going to fly off and hit the ground and either die or become a quadriplegic. I think we were probably only going about 20 miles an hour, but for a non-experienced rider who still isn't able to get the horse to stop, it seemed like 60 mph!

We make it up to the barn and start heading towards the curve and my foot slips out of the left stirrup. By this time, I'm yelling at Star to stop. (Obviously not getting the message across to the horse!) As he rounded the bend, I totally lost my balance since my foot was not in the stirrup anymore, and fell off the left side of the horse. As I hit the ground, I rolled and heard snap-crackle-and-pop louder than any chiropractic adjustment I'd ever had. When I stopped, I could feel pain all over my body, yet I could feel it. I said out-loud, "God, you are so good to me!" It was the first time in my life I was thankful for feeling pain, even pain everywhere. I thought immediately about Christopher Reeve and Joni and how that could've been me.

Though I could feel everything, I was definitely not able to stand up right then. I was worried that I broke something. I was groaning pretty loud and heard Rick shout, "Are you okay, Paul?" I yelled back, "No! I need help!" Savannah and Sabrina heard all this and began to panic. Savannah ran into the house and told Audrea, "Daddy fell off a horse!" Of course, that threw Audrea into a state of panic herself.

By the time she and Rick made it out to where I was, I was able to sit up. Rick helped me stand up and hobble over to the golf cart. They took me to the house and I laid there for several hours on ice and experiencing occasional waves of shock (nausea, chills, cold sweat, and headache). As I would try to stand up to see if we could get going home, the pain was so sharp, I would get light-headed and feel like I was going to pass out. So I'd sit down again and rest. We decided we'd head home and seek medical advice. They wheeled me out on an office chair to the van and I was able to pull myself into it. I was really beginning to empathize with disabled individuals who can't walk!

On the way back to Louisville, we called a nurse line and they said an urgent care facility would be fine and an emergency room unnecessary. We found a clinic and then had to figure out what to do with the kids. We really only knew two families at the time and one of them had several children themselves. So we called Josh and Gretchen and asked if Gretchen could come watch the kids while Audrea took me in. She was so concerned and willing to help (THANK YOU, Gretchen!). Once we got the kids settled, we headed to the clinic and was able to get in quickly. The doctor took x-rays and didn't see any breaks. He wasn't really sure where the major pain was coming from. So he told me to stay off my feet for a week, start taking pain medicine, and in a week try to walk again. If the pain was still there, he said to go get an MRI. Once again, we praised the Lord for having a job that I could do while working from home and even in bed!

After about 3 days, I started trying to walk without crutches and found that I could slowly make my way around as long as I didn't move too fast. I waited for a week, and while I was still in pain all over, it wasn't unbearable (as long as I was high on ibuprofen!) Instead of going to a clinic, I knew that the best thing for me would be chiropractic due to the pain all over in my body. On the following Tuesday, I visited O'Neil Chiropractic and had more x-rays done and diagnostic tests. It was clear--I was a mess all over. Now, 2 weeks later after many adjustments and therapy, I'm doing much better.

Yet, there is still some pain in the left hip in the center area whenever I do anything strenuous. Dr. O'Neil had sent the x-rays off to a radiologist. After about 10 days, we got the results back and confirmed his suspicion behind the pain--I had actually broke a part of my pelvis! It's a minor break--a pelvic fracture, but a break nonetheless. (The original doctor looked too quickly at the x-rays.) Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done about it other than waiting for it to heal. Technically the broken bone is in the lower portion of my ischium. I've included an x-ray of someone else's pelvis (I'm a little embarrassed to show my pelvis to the whole world ) . The red hairline is where the break is in the ischium bone.

If any of you have known me for a long time, you know that this accident is not a surprise considering my history! In fact, I told Audrea, "When I call my mom to tell her, I'll bet you $20 she'll laugh!" And she did.

I'll conclude this long story with a comic strip that Audrea's mom was kind enough to send me in a get-well card. It epitomizes me in this situation.

P.S. Audrea and I have been cracking up since this happened thinking about Uncle Rico telling Kip and Napoleon: "Grandma took a little spill at the sand dunes today. Broke her coccyx." Thankfully, I didn't break that!

Horsin' Around

2008-05-13T07:44:00.000-04:00

It's catch up time on the family...

One of the wonderful benefits of living in Louisville is the proximity of family. Audrea's Uncle Rick and Aunt Karen live just over an hour away out in the middle of paradise (I'll show you on our next trip). Four weeks ago we were able to go spend some time with them, their daughter Lauren, and their horses.

Savannah brushing Star:
Savannah getting ready to ride:
Sabrina and Audrea:

More horsin' around to come...

A Bright Spot Is Gone

2008-05-03T21:46:00.000-04:00

As many bad things as I have said in the past about Danville, there are many, many more good things that I should have been saying. On Thursday, Danville lost one of those bright spots that really "put it on the map."

Mary Coffman was brilliant and extremely talented and had the credentials to prove it. I remember having a conversation with one of my friends from high school once after we had gone off to college. In that conversation, he berated DACC as being a place for losers and full of unprofessional and sub-educated teachers. Besides being rather offended since I was one of those so-called losers, I was amazed he would say that in light of people like Mary Coffman. As you can read from the credentials in her obituary, she was no sluff. Fulbright scholars who earn their master's from the U of I and then study at Oxford, are not dull individuals!

Mary was "Mrs. Coffman" to me. I had her for both of my writing classes at DACC. Unlike most of the members of my class, I really enjoyed learning under her tutelage. But I will most remember Mary from my Introduction to Film class. Mary opened my eyes to the art of cinematography like I had never seen before. She was so passionate about teaching and life!

We'll be praying for you Mr. Coffman and Elizabeth that God would minister much grace to you through this very difficult time.

HT: Gretchen

House Update

2008-05-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

We've nailed down the purchase agreement on our home! Our prayers were answered in two major ways:

Repair Requests: The furnace passed inspection and is safe and working! The breaker box had open slots to fix the existing double tapping on two circuits. The work that they have asked us to perform is minor safety things and we have agreed to get those done.
Finances to pay for the closing: God has blessed us with three major donors that have contributed to help us cover the short sale! The first two gave us large donations that will cover the majority of the costs. The third individual has promised to give us an interest-free loan to cover whatever remaining balance is due at the closing. We will likely have to take advantage of that loan offer, but we are praising God for that.

The scheduled closing date is June 13th. What an amazing God we serve who answers prayer and provides for our every need!

T4G Musings, Part 2

2008-04-30T21:40:00.000-04:00

Ligon Duncan spoke during the first session on Systematic Theology and its relationship to pastoral ministry. Duncan reminded us that in our culture today doctrine, theology, and Systematic Theology are under duress. Much to the disagreement of post-moderns, Systematic Theology is important. Contra the Emergents, he argued that the Bible is not a story narrative. The story line of redemption has to be pieced together with Biblical and Systematic Theology.

Post-modernism's notions of meaningless language are detrimental to theology. The idea that language is not inherently understandable (that it is merely a social-linguistic byproduct, ala Richard Rorty and his Philosophy and Mirror of Nature) comes from medieval gnosticism and post-Kantian philosophy and is entirely abiblical. Rather, he points out, we see from Genesis 2 that language is inherently understandable. And because it is understandable, we can know its referents--we can know God Himself, because He has revealed Himself in Scripture.

Duncan did a brilliant job of showing that a personal Systematic Theology is unavoidable, even for a post-modern. Since a personal Systematic Theology is simply topical--what do you believe about something in particular, we all believe something even if it is to say that "I don't believe anything about that topic." If someone comes up to you and asks, "What do you believe about hell?" you won't tell them a story. You'll say simply what you believe to be true. This is what Systematic Theology does, and as Duncan points out, what Christ said on the road to Emmaus. When I had thought of this passage before, I honestly thought more along the lines of Biblical Theology (a storyline of redemption through the Bible pointing to Christ), but he observes that Christ told them all "the things" concerning Himself.

Finally, Lig' brought it down to what doctrine is important for. Romans 11:32-36--it's important for God's glory. John 15:12-16--it's important for our assurance. Ephesians 5:25--it's important for marriages (and note the ethical implication that is derived from the doctrine of atonement!). Philippians 3:1--it's important for your joy! Theology is for all of life, not just the classroom or the sanctuary.

Listen to the full sermon here.

Consider It Joy

2008-04-29T07:50:00.000-04:00

In the middle of loss, whether it is your job, health, family, money, or even your life, it is often difficult to understand, let alone embrace, James' admonition to be joyful about these trials. I have been overwhelmed lately with all the loss I see happening to those close to me. Yet I've found God to be true in everything He says and by faith, I believe that He is good in all that he does because He is good Himself.

The following excerpt is from Paul David Tripp's book, Lost in the Middle, which deeply encouraged me last year as I walked through the pain of deep loss with some dear friends. Tripp says something very astounding that shook me up considerably:

We don’t tend to be very excited about being Christ-like and holy.
Instead, we get excited about being around people who love and affirm us. We get excited about children who grow up and do what is right. We get excited about making plans that actually come true. We get excited about physical health. We get excited about investments that have a good return. We get excited about having a safe, successful, stress-free, and predictable life. The problem with all of these things is not that they are wrong to desire. The problem is that we have settled for far too little. And we are surprised, shocked, and disappointed when God shakes them in order to refine us. You see, God has planned more and better things for us than we would want for ourselves. He is not content for us to be content with situational and relational ease. He will settle for nothing less than that we would become partakers of his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

How do you assess a good day? Do you tend to celebrate the smooth-running, unobstructed days and curse the days when difficulty has been in your path? How small a trial is able to make you angry? How quick are you to question God and his goodness? How apt are you to lash out at others who seem to have gotten in the way of your plan? How much do you envy the apparent ease of others? How much is your joy and contentment directly tied to comfort and ease? Are you in an agenda-collision with your Lord? Do you live with a destination-mentality, cursing the heat of preparation when it comes your way?

You can read the full excerpt from the book here. (I highly recommend you purchasing this book and reading it for yourself.)

In addition, as I was thinking about this subject this morning, my CD player came to this song on Graham Kendrick's What Grace CD:

"Consider It Joy (When Trials Come)"
by Graham Kendrick

Though trials will come
Don’t fear, don’t run
Lift up your eyes
Hold fast, be strong
Have faith, keep on believing
Lift up your eyes
For God is at work in us
Moulding and shaping us
Out of his love for us
Making us more like Jesus

Consider it joy, pure joy
When troubles come
Many trials will make you strong
Consider it joy, pure joy
And stand your ground
Then at last you’ll wear a crown

Though trials will come
Won’t fear, won’t run
We’ll lift up our eyes
Hold fast, be strong
Have faith, keep on believing
We’ll lift up our eyes
For God is at work in us
Moulding and shaping us
Out of his love for us
Making us more like Jesus

Joy, pure joy
Consider it joy, pure joy
Joy, pure joy
Consider it joy, pure joy

Patiently trusting him
Ready for anything
’Til we’re complete in him
In everything more like Jesus

Consider it joy, pure joy
When troubles come
Many trials will make you strong
Consider it joy, pure joy
And stand your ground
Then at last you’ll wear a crown
Then at last you’ll wear a crown
Then at last you’ll wear a crown

Copyright © 2001 Make Way Music,
www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

Andrew and Grace Need You To Pray

2008-04-28T16:01:00.001-04:00

This is from Andrew & Grace's blog. Please read and pray for wisdom to make the best decision evident to them.

I just don't know...

via Grace's Journal by Andrew Mark on 4/28/08

Our family is faced with the toughest decision yet. The docs at Mayo and my radiation oncologists think that my best chances of survival are to do another surgery and remove everything - remaining part of tongue, voice box, epiglotis, etc. That would mean that I would not be able to talk, eat, or smell, and I would breathe out of a hole in my neck. The radiation oncologists at Mayo and UMN think that this cancer is radiation resistant because it didn't die with last year's radiation so they don't think radiation will work this year.

It is believed that a massive surgery would increase my chances of cure, but not by very much. We had asked Dr. Yueh to do whatever it took during my surgery in March to remove the cancer, even if I could never eat or talk again but he opted not to cut it all out at that time because seeing the aggressiveness if my tumor and how it was scattered rather than in a single mass, it was unlikely that removing everything would get it all anyways. Dr. Moore at the Mayo Clinic thinks there might be a slightly better chance of survival if I was willing to do the surgery. The only thing is that Dr. Moore at Mayo wasn't the one who operated on me, so he didn't see how the tumor was behaving firsthand. On the other hand Dr. Yueh was able to see exactly how the tumor was behaving and made a decision in the operating room based on his extensive experience.

So I have 3 options:
1) A second course of radiation and chemotherapy
2) A third surgery plus a second course of radiation and chemo
3) Seek alternative therapies such a immunotherapy, nutrition, etc.

At this time there is not enough evidence that shows that a major surgery will greatly increase my chances of survival. If it was clear that I would survive, or perhaps have a decent chance at survival, then I would definately do it. Otherwise, I'm not so sure it is worth it because of is would greatly affect the quality of life that I have left. Besides, after having 2 surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy, a third surgery could have life threatening complications.

Please pray for claritiy in this decision, and that God would heal me of this disease and allow me to be a husband to my wife and a father to my children for years to come.

I am going to start chemotherapy tomorrow anyways, and radiation starts next Monday. So I have until the end of this week to decide. I am trying to get an opinion from Sloan Kettering and MD Anderson, and asking more questions of Dr. Yueh and Dr. Moore this week. Pray that those meetings will bring clarity to the decision.

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Home Update

2008-04-25T15:12:00.001-04:00

Just a quick update on the sale of our home... The inspection didn't happen until yesterday (Thursday). Our realtor called today and said that so far there were no major issues to worry about! Praise the Lord! Keep praying that this will go through smoothly both for us and the buyers, and that both agents would be able to make a decent profit on the sale in spite of the economy.

It's not fair!

2008-04-22T09:35:00.001-04:00

Audrea and I have struggled recently over the seemingly unfairness of our house situation. We have never missed a payment on it. We put a downpayment on it (not 20%, but still not a 0% down). We have a nearly perfect credit score. Yet in the last year our house value dropped 17%--to a point where we now owe more on it than it's worth.

Many sellers today are taking one of two options: to "walk away" or to "sell short". (Selling short means working with the bank to only pay back part of the original loan value. In other words, if your mortgage was 150K and you asked the bank if they'll just take 135K.) The problem is, both options lack ethical integrity (unless in the latter you have simply asked for mercy from the lender).

We would never consider "walking away", but we have considered asking our lender for mercy to sell short. The problem is this: they're only doing this for those individuals who have been unable to make their payments. To Audrea and I, this seemed unfair. But if we think about it in light of this outstanding post from my friend Andrew, we simply must fall down on our knees in praise to God for His mercy in not giving us what we deserve.

Thank you, Andrew!

via Grace's Journal by Grace Mark on 4/21/08

ANDREW WRITES:

One of the hardest parts of the day is to sit with my family and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with them. An abundance of my favorite foods are strewn out across the table and my nostrils are filled with rich aromas of garlic, and breads, and pasta and sauces. I suddenly feel envious of others who get to taste and eat rather than having to inject medical formula directly into their stomach with a syringe. My mouth waters as I cherish vivid memories of being satisfied with a hearty meal after a long workout at the gym. Then I cringe in fear of not being able to experience that ever again. To be hungry for the rest of my life.

Can there be anything on God's good earth that is more satisfying than my wife's lentil soup or my mom's chinese cooking? Food is a wonderful thing and it used to bring me so much joy and satisfaction, but can I still have joy without it?

I struggle all day long to answer yes to that question. People often express their deep sympathy to me and say, "its just not fair that you would have to go through this. That really sucks". I often struggle in my mind thinking the same thing. The truth is that it isn't fair. My life just isn't fair.

Lets look at just a few of the facts of my unfair life.

1) Born 9/11/81 to loving parents, David and Joyce Mark.
2) My parents loved me.
3) My parents loved me so much that they never gave up on me despite my disrespect and rebellion. They always supported me.
4) I got to go to UCLA for college and experience so many things in life.
5) I became a Christian at the age of 20 and got to go to John Macarthur's church and learn so much about God through the bible.
6) I miraculously landed a job at Motorola, which I absolutely love. Going to work for me was exciting and fun.
7) I married the most amazing, beautiful, bright, caring person, aka Grace Uriarte.
8) We had AJ - the coolest kid on the block.
9) Then we got to have Gracie, sweet little Gracie.
10) Then I had cancer, but God restored me to complete health after that.
11) We got to move to Minnesota and we absolutely love it here.
12) I got cancer again and survived a very complicated surgery.

Its just not fair that I got to live richly for this long, while others die young. Its just not fair that God would sacrifice His only son so that I could be forgiven of my sins and receive life everlasting rather than perish in hell where there will be weeping and knashing of teeth forever.

Deut 8:3 says "He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD."

When God rained manna down on the Israelites when they were starving they could only collect enough for the given day. God satisfied their hunger for a day, but He didn't provide for tomorrows hunger until tomorrow. Its true that cancer sucks because it could rob me of tomorrow. But it sure can't take away today. Joy is not found in tomorrow, it's found in today. Today I can find my nourishment in God who is my daily bread. God is making me hungry so that I might look to Him to satisfy me. Today I can rejoice because knowing God is so much more satisfying than the finest of foods.

Psalm 63:1 says, "O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water."

The true hunger of a human being is not for food, it is for God. And only God can satisfy the hungry soul.

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God Is Answering Your Prayers!

2008-04-21T08:32:00.001-04:00

We have an accepted offer on our home in Maple Grove! Though the amount is far less than we started out a year ago, the completion of this sale would get this major burden off of our backs. The buyer appears to be very solid financially (putting 20% down), but the sale is contingent on the closing of their existing property on June 13th. In addition, full completion of the purchase offer is contingent on the inspection which may occur as early as tomorrow.

Please pray for the following specific requests:

The inspection would not turn up any surprises that would cause the buyer to want to back out. (We've been extremely clear in our Seller's Disclosure about any flaws we could think of, so the only thing that could come up would be surprises to us.)
The buyer would not come back with any improvement requests which would require us to shell out even more cash.
For our sake and the buyer's, that the closing on the sale of the buyer's existing property would go through without a hitch.
Finally, that we would continue to be able to be good examples of Christ-centered living to our realtor who has already had customers in the past try, very rudely, to convert him from his Judaism to Christianity.

Thank you for asking for God's providential care to continue in our lives.

Midwest Earthquake?!

2008-04-18T07:20:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: The quake actually originated from the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone which is much closer to our hometown of Danville, Illinois.

At 5:36 this morning, Audrea and I heard a rumbling and experienced our bed shaking. My first thought was that the kids bunkbeds downstairs fell apart. I ran downstairs and checked on the kids and then on down to the basement and everything seemed normal. When I got into bed, Audrea wondered if we had just experienced an earthquake.

Well, we just looked at the news this morning, and we did, in fact, experience a 5.2 scale earthquake. According to the USGS, the earthquake centered around Mt. Carmel, Illinois. What a trip!!

Here in the Midwest, this is quite the rarity. I know the last time I experience one was in the late 1980's. I seem to remember after that there was quite a bit of scare about whether we would ever have a large scale earthquake since we are right over the New Madrid Seismic Zone. For some rather entertaining footage, check this out.

T4G Musings, Part 1

2008-04-17T15:54:00.000-04:00

By the generous providence of God I was blessed to attend Together for the Gospel over the last 3 days! I had the opportunity to fellowship with great friends and be deeply encouraged in my faith.

I spent the majority of the time with my newest friend, David Ward, who leads worship at Redeemer Bible Church. (FYI, you should check out David's music and Worship Organizer.)

Wednesday for lunch I was blessed to spend time with the pastors of Eden Baptist Church in Savage--Dan Miller and Jon Pratt. Dr. Pratt taught me Greek exegesis at Central Seminary. Over lunch, I learned that Central will be taking on Dr. Pratt as their full-time professor of New Testament Studies. This will be filling a huge gap that had been left by Dr. Bob Milliman. It was such an encouraging time of theological conversation.

Wednesday evening I went out for supper with a dear friend I had met and grown close to in my early days of college in Danville, Illinois--Kirby Myers. Kirby is shepherding a growing church that God enabled him to plant in 2002 in the Indianapolis area. I was also able to spend some time with a very sharp guy that I had only known briefly while I worked at the Open Door Christian Bookstore when it was located in Danville--Scott Gunter. He is a missionary to India working with Pioneers.

Finally, Wednesday evening during the singing I recognized someone from the back of their head who I hadn't seen since last summer--Cory Rintala! We were able to worship together this morning during the first session and briefly catch up.

It is so fantastic to be able to know so many godly friends who are experiencing growing ministries and seeing God's glory be magnified!
Over the next few days I am going to post some of my thoughts on each of the sessions. In the meantime, I'll let you peruse over the stack of books I received for free as an attendee:

In the Hands of an Angry God

2008-04-12T19:23:00.000-04:00

This is so important for you to watch.

(Thank you, Kim, for finding this video!)

Disgusting, but Funny

2008-04-09T07:06:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry to gross anyone out, but this picture is too funny to not share. It's "Biter Biscuits" at their worst.