This request could take you too much time, but I'd love to hear your reactions to this satirical piece from Sacred Sandwich.
If Paul's Epistle to the Galatians was Published in Christianity Today
2/24/09
2/20/09
I Caved
I fought the 25 Facebook list as long as I could. Yesterday, in a moment of weakness, I caved. Not being completely sure who reads this blog, and realizing we may or may not be Facebook friends, I thought I'd share here.
1. I am uncomfortable around old ladies with lots of energy
2. I’m kind of uncomfortable around anyone with a lot of energy.
3. I tend to not be very energetic.
4. I’ve watched a lot more sports than I’ve played.
5. I hate losing.
6. Winning only gives relief. It isn’t even that great. I just hate losing.
7. My hatred for losing has caused me to cheat in Scrabble while playing my wife.
8. My wife gives me a lot of grace.
9. She also gives my boys a lot of grace.
10. My boys need a lot of grace, but they’re adorable and I love them.
11. My boys are three and two years old.
12. My older son is smarter than me.
13. My younger son is funnier and possibly stronger than me.
14. Both of them have more energy than me, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, just tired.
15. All I ever really wanted to be was a husband and a dad. The rest is just bonus.
16. Only having two goals probably hurt a lot of my ambition, but I am 2/2 on goals.
17. I hate goal-setting sessions.
18. I fear failure. I think that explains why I hate goals.
19. Fearing failure almost made me not get married.
20. My fiancée gave me a lot of grace.
21. I think the word grace best describes my life. God has been faithful to me by giving me grace in the gift of his son.
22. I have not wanted to do a random 25 list, but I’m bored.
23. I’m having a hard time thinking of three more things.
24. My favorite professor in college told me I wasn’t very strong at ending papers. He said I had warning track power when it came to writing.
25. I think he was right.
I wanted to add that I appreciate candy on a deeper level than most people, but this isn't a 26 list.
1. I am uncomfortable around old ladies with lots of energy
2. I’m kind of uncomfortable around anyone with a lot of energy.
3. I tend to not be very energetic.
4. I’ve watched a lot more sports than I’ve played.
5. I hate losing.
6. Winning only gives relief. It isn’t even that great. I just hate losing.
7. My hatred for losing has caused me to cheat in Scrabble while playing my wife.
8. My wife gives me a lot of grace.
9. She also gives my boys a lot of grace.
10. My boys need a lot of grace, but they’re adorable and I love them.
11. My boys are three and two years old.
12. My older son is smarter than me.
13. My younger son is funnier and possibly stronger than me.
14. Both of them have more energy than me, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, just tired.
15. All I ever really wanted to be was a husband and a dad. The rest is just bonus.
16. Only having two goals probably hurt a lot of my ambition, but I am 2/2 on goals.
17. I hate goal-setting sessions.
18. I fear failure. I think that explains why I hate goals.
19. Fearing failure almost made me not get married.
20. My fiancée gave me a lot of grace.
21. I think the word grace best describes my life. God has been faithful to me by giving me grace in the gift of his son.
22. I have not wanted to do a random 25 list, but I’m bored.
23. I’m having a hard time thinking of three more things.
24. My favorite professor in college told me I wasn’t very strong at ending papers. He said I had warning track power when it came to writing.
25. I think he was right.
I wanted to add that I appreciate candy on a deeper level than most people, but this isn't a 26 list.
2/19/09
2/18/09
Powerful
Joshua has started to sing 'the other hockey song.' He lines up his hockey action figures in front of the goal and sings, 'O, say can you see...' over and over again. I looked up national anthem and found this clip. I'm always amazed at the power of unity. I believe God created the world to share himself with us. The fellowship of the trinity overflowed to create humanity. Even in our fallen condition, we carry his image. One of the most amazing aspects of image bearing is the power of things that can be accomplished when we work together. This clip is an incredible picture of that phenomenon.
2/17/09
2/11/09
Lights in a Dark Place
In the denomination where Rebecca and I have landed, there is a process for future pastors to enter into called coming under care. To officially come under care is to go before the local presbytery and tell them your testimony and sense of call to gospel ministry. Yesterday was my day to go before the presbytery.
There are two people who I talk about every time I tell my story.
The first is my good friend Greg Letherer. My parents removed me from home school in the eighth grade and enrolled me at Western Christian School. Greg was my eighth and ninth grade basketball coach and math teacher. He quickly became one of my dearest friends. Greg was the most godly man I had ever met and to an eighth grader who had spent the first thirteen years of his life hearing about the excellencies of his cult, Greg was an impossibility. The wheels in my head began to turn and I began to understand my group wasn't all it claimed to be. If the most Christ-like man I knew had never heard of Christian Gospel Temple, then Christian Gospel Temple couldn't have the exclusive truth I believed they had. It wasn't overnight, but the wheels were turning. In fact, Greg visited Tennessee about seven years after the move, and I still held out hope of him finding the true church and moving to Tennessee with me. Meeting Greg was the first of many holes that were about to be punched into my whole belief system. I cannot talk about him while giving my testimony without crying.
The second friend who can't be left out of my testimony is Stuart Latimer. Stuart was a pastor at Covenant when I became a teacher at the new elementary school. Stuart has told me many times that he realized I had some odd beliefs, but could see God doing something in my heart. Stuart opened his library and schedule to me and has consistently planted gospel seeds in my life every time we've talked for the past nine years. Stuart is smart and confident. He will tell you so. But I have learned over the years that he is also humble. He won't tell you that. During his last sermon in Nashville, I was moved to tears as I contemplated how patiently he allowed the Holy Spirit to convict my heart of the truths of the gospel. I remember thinking one time that Stuart always had an answer. It bugged me until a huge light bulb went off in my head and I realized he always has an answer because the answer is always Jesus.
Greg and Stuart couldn't be more different, but there is a common link between them. They are men who are deeply aware of their depths of sin and even more deeply convinced of their righteousness in Christ. I'm so thankful for these two men in my life. I'm thankful for their repentance and transparency which flows out of their adoration and appreciation of the gospel. I'm not sure if I'll ever write a book about my life growing up in the cult, but if I do, it will be dedicated to these two friends for being light in a very dark place.
There are two people who I talk about every time I tell my story.
The first is my good friend Greg Letherer. My parents removed me from home school in the eighth grade and enrolled me at Western Christian School. Greg was my eighth and ninth grade basketball coach and math teacher. He quickly became one of my dearest friends. Greg was the most godly man I had ever met and to an eighth grader who had spent the first thirteen years of his life hearing about the excellencies of his cult, Greg was an impossibility. The wheels in my head began to turn and I began to understand my group wasn't all it claimed to be. If the most Christ-like man I knew had never heard of Christian Gospel Temple, then Christian Gospel Temple couldn't have the exclusive truth I believed they had. It wasn't overnight, but the wheels were turning. In fact, Greg visited Tennessee about seven years after the move, and I still held out hope of him finding the true church and moving to Tennessee with me. Meeting Greg was the first of many holes that were about to be punched into my whole belief system. I cannot talk about him while giving my testimony without crying.
The second friend who can't be left out of my testimony is Stuart Latimer. Stuart was a pastor at Covenant when I became a teacher at the new elementary school. Stuart has told me many times that he realized I had some odd beliefs, but could see God doing something in my heart. Stuart opened his library and schedule to me and has consistently planted gospel seeds in my life every time we've talked for the past nine years. Stuart is smart and confident. He will tell you so. But I have learned over the years that he is also humble. He won't tell you that. During his last sermon in Nashville, I was moved to tears as I contemplated how patiently he allowed the Holy Spirit to convict my heart of the truths of the gospel. I remember thinking one time that Stuart always had an answer. It bugged me until a huge light bulb went off in my head and I realized he always has an answer because the answer is always Jesus.
Greg and Stuart couldn't be more different, but there is a common link between them. They are men who are deeply aware of their depths of sin and even more deeply convinced of their righteousness in Christ. I'm so thankful for these two men in my life. I'm thankful for their repentance and transparency which flows out of their adoration and appreciation of the gospel. I'm not sure if I'll ever write a book about my life growing up in the cult, but if I do, it will be dedicated to these two friends for being light in a very dark place.
2/9/09
2/4/09
2/3/09
Turn Around
Watching the Super Bowl commercials made me sick. I couldn't help picturing my elementary school students at home watching the game and being bombarded with images and phrases that would slowly (and sometimes quickly) chip away at their innocence. I taught this chapter of Amos to the second graders yesterday. It seemed timely.
Amos 4
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"
Amos 4
Israel Has Not Returned to God
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, "Bring us some drinks!"
2 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness:
"The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks.
3 You will each go straight out
through breaks in the wall,
and you will be cast out toward Harmon,"
declares the LORD.
4 "Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years.
5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,"
declares the Sovereign LORD.
6 "I gave you empty stomachs in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
7 "I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
8 People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
9 "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
I struck them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
10 "I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
11 "I overthrew some of you
as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
12 "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
13 He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.
In this time of recession, it seems our hearts are not turning. America is at war and things are not well. Our economy is not built upon the rock. The rain is coming. The wind is blowing.
Because God is good and desires repentance, he sent Israel drought and war. He sent them these things to expose their hearts and to turn them back to him. They refused and ran faster in the opposite direction.
Every situation that reminds us of the brokenness of our world is there to drive us back to our need for the Savior. Being removed from the garden was punishment as well as salvation for Adam and Eve. I pray today that the obvious brokenness of our world leaves my heart broken and humbled at the feet of God. I pray the same for our nation. These times are a gift of grace. Let those with ears hear.
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