New Baby and a Hymn of the Day

The little guy is here. His name is Andrew Jacob. Thank you for all of your prayers. Rebecca is feeling well and Joshua really liked him for about forty seconds.









When Andrew was born he had some trouble breathing and was taken to the NICU. I was able to go with him and this is the song we sang. We are so grateful for our healthy little guy. God is good. We don't deserve the blessings he has given us.


Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of God’s unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

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

The Way of the Cross - Dying Daily

Verse From The Lord Will Provide

No strength of our own or goodness we claim
Yet since we have known the saviors great name
In this our strong tower for safety we hide
The Lord is our power, the Lord will provide

When life sinks apace and death is in view
This word of his grace shall comfort us through
No fearing or doubting with Christ on our side
We hope to die shouting the Lord will provide


When I first heard the last line of 'The Lord Will Provide' I thought of Christians dying because of martyrdom or sickness. As I have listened to the song a few more times (I highly recommend it - Matthew Smith - All I Owe available at www.igracemusic.com) I started to think about the believer's call to take up their cross, deny self, and suffer for the kingdom.

I think it would be most Christian's hope to die shouting, "The Lord will provide," but I think sometimes I miss the point. The shout shouldn't be saved for the deathbed or lion's mouth.

Tonight my lovely wife who is nine months pregnant and not feeling great is going to need some extra help around the house. I am going to be tired from a week of elementary school kids, high school basketball players, and the rest of life's little surprises. When she needs me to help with something she needs instead of something I want I will have an opportunity to die shouting, "the Lord will provide."

Monday, Rebecca and I will have our second son (Lord willing). There will be late night feedings, early morning feedings, late night diapers, early morning diapers, and plenty of other opportunities to die shouting, "the Lord will provide."

There are countless opportunities every day to die to self knowing God will provide.

John 12:24

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

What will the Lord provide when we die to ourselves? Resurrection life. Jesus' death on the cross was not the end of the story. Three days later he rose, declaring the surety of our salvation. As we commit ourselves to the way of the cross we can be assured of Holy Spirit empowering, resurrection life. A life of little deaths will result in one of great resurrection life. Little seeds of service going into the ground and dying will produce the fruit of the Spirit.

This is a great hymn about the Christian life.

Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken by Henry Lyte

Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee.
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known.
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
O while Thou dost smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me,
Show Thy face and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,
Come disaster, scorn and pain
In Thy service, pain is pleasure,
With Thy favor, loss is gain
I have called Thee Abba Father,
I have stayed my heart on Thee
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;
All must work for good to me.

Soul, then know thy full salvation
Rise o’er sin and fear and care
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
Think what Father’s smiles are thine,
Think that Jesus died to win thee,
Child of heaven, canst thou repine.

Haste thee on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.
Heaven’s eternal days before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide us there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

Neither Liberal nor Conservative

Borrowing from David Wayne's http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/

Ten Values of the Early Church

David Fairchild posts on ten values of the early church which he has gleaned from Rodney Stark. David didn't tell us which of Stark's writings this came from, so if anyone knows exactly where this is from I would welcome the info.

Fairchild points out a couple of important things. If you read his post he has an extra comment about each of these showing how diametrically opposite they were to the culture's prevailing values.

Secondly he points out that, given our current situation, several of these things would fit in with more conservative ideology and several would fit in with more liberal ideology. His point, which I believe is well taken is how important it is that we not let ourselves as Christians and as the church be defined by the world's categories.

• 1- They refused to attend blood thirsty entertainment.
• 2- They did not serve in the military to support Caesar's wars of conquest.
• 3- They were against abortion and infanticide.
• 4- They empowered women by showing their value and dignity in places of learning and service which had previously been exclusively for men.
• 5- They were against sex outside of marriage.
• 6- They were against homosexual relationships.
• 7- They were exceptionally generous with their resources.
• 8- They were radically for the poor.
• 9- They mixed races and social classes in ways that were unseen in their gatherings, and for it they were considered scandalous.
• 10- They believed only Christ was the way to salvation.

One for the Men

Proverbs 16:32

Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

Ephesians 5:25

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Possibly the best advice I have ever received came from my friend Stuart Latimer. Stuart was Rebecca and my pre-marital counselor. He told me about my responsibility as Rebecca’s husband and let me know it was my job to die to myself every day for Rebecca. He told me that Jesus died for his bride when his bride was his enemy. Jesus died for his bride (the wife from hell) because his bride was wrong. Stuart told me it was my job to die to myself even when Rebecca was wrong. I learned (and am learning) to look for my responsibility and guilt in the situations where I feel mostly justified and even right.

There are a lot of ideas floating around Christian circles on what it means to be a Christian man. Some have reduced it to ruggedness. Others define it as simply being nice. I think the most distinct signs of a Christian man are repentance and willingness to die to self (even when and especially when) he is right.

Guys, we need this simple truth in our lives. I know so many men who wouldn’t hesitate to kick somebody’s rear end if another guy messed with their wife. So many of the same guys won’t lift a hand in the battle of self.

I apologize in advance if these song lyrics offend anybody, but I think they are especially relevant for this post.

From A King and a Kingdom by Derek Webb

nothing unifies like a common enemy
and we’ve got one, sure as hell
but he may be living in your house
he may be raising up your kids
he may be sleeping with your wife
oh no, he may not look like you think

To end the post here would be crippling. The power to fight self is not found in ourselves.

The battle is only fought in the power of the gospel. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the one who gave up everything to present you blameless before the Father. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the strong and gentle husband who laid down his life for his cheating wife. The power to change is found in him. Be strong in his perfect love.