"this week the trend" or "my barnabai"

reading Ezra 7:10 today in t.t.b.t.t.y. by john stott was a culmination of a least a week of lessons/thoughts. i would love for that to be the summation of my life: to have set my heart to studying, doing and teaching the Law of the Lord!

to reach a goal, however, requires individual steps in the interim. mom always talks about wishing that she could just think and be somewhere, but the reality is that traveling takes time and effort. along that journey, i think that it is important for us to have pauls and timothys and barnabai (or barnabases, if you prefer). these would be ones who are more mature who can help train, mentor and encourage us, those for whom we are playing that role, and those who are our companions progressing at relatively the same level.

God has surely blessed me with pauls too numerous to list - godly men, not only from the united states, but all over the world whose live have impacted mine. men from whom i have been able to sponge wisdom. i am also grateful for books that have allowed me to learn at the feet of men of other generations.

the Lord continually makes timothys readily available, and by His grace, i am learning how to be more effective in pouring into their lives.

the hard one for me sometimes (because youth ministry has me spending much of my time with teenagers) is the role of barnabas - "the son of encouragement" who grows along with me. it is easy to wallow in that "i am all alone" attitude or to soldier on as a "lone ranger."

this past week, i have been reminded of the need to be intentional about developing these kind of relationships ("to have a friend, you've got to be a friend"), and the Lord has been overwhelmingly faithful in showing me just how many opportunities there are around me.

so thank You Lord for the board of deacons (may we grow together in the ministry of mercy). thank You for wednesday lunches. thank You for the pkn and friends to spill my guts to. thank You for a brother in Christ who messaged me with a doctrinal question out of the blue to make me think. thank You for 3 hour lunches at the hot dog shop talking about God stuff. thank You for a brother who is growing up and getting married and seeking to develop a greater depth of relationship. thank You for a friend to work out with and to hold hands with afterward and pray in the ymca parking lot (a masculine arm wrestling type hand hold - see illustration below). thank You for a friend to save me a seat at the high school choir concert. thank You for a new book coming at just the right time. thank You for Psalm 108 being sung to the tune of "rise up, o men of God." O Lord, keep my eyes open for these opportunities!

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
to serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
and end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
her strength unequal to her task;
rise up, and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
rise up, O men of God!

THIS NOT

a challenging quote

"neglect of prayer signals serious defects in a ministry even if other signs of success have not diminished." - bryan chapell

love songs and weddings

have i mentioned that i really like the shuffle feature? whether it's on my cd player, my blog playlist, itunes or my ipod, i like to let random songs play. well, what came on over the ipod this morning? for better, for worse by slick shoes!

and since i'm going to be at two weddings next week, it got me thinking in a couple of different directions:

1. what are some of my favorite love songs?

2. marriage... especially Ephesians 5:22-33 and praying for adam and heather and matt and becky (and brendan and pam and machia and elizabeth) - that their marriages would be a reflection of Christ and the church, as well as thanking the Lord for allowing me to be in a role to speak truth into these lives (as well as praying for continued guidance and wisdom to do so).

so what songs came to mind besides the aforementioned for better, for worse?
1. droned (in love version) by starflyer 59... "you're the best thing, easily."
2. coupleskate by joe christmas... "hold my hand, stay with me. round and round with the girl of my dreams."
3. i can be her man by the lassie foundation... "seraphs, sages..."
4. the weight by thrice... "love is a loyalty sworn, not a burning for a moment."
5. 5 years to write by john reuben... "this song about my wife took me 5 years to write"
6. new york to california by mat kearney... "for you i would crawl... from new york to california"
7. bicycle by plankeye... "yesterday she lost. her car broke down, so now i ride a bicycle"
8. fell in love at 22 by starflyer 59... "this is our life, our old times"
9. portrait by dear ephesus... "they're a portrait of grace in many shades. how he's growing, learning more each day. oh she loves him in spite of all his ways. they're a portrait of grace in many shades."
10. brightest by copeland... "she said that i was the brightest little firefly in her jar"
11. the romantic balloons by joy electric... "i'll come to greet you soon, and bring to you the romantic balloons" (followed by much synthesized joy)
12. learning me by mars ill... "without a doubt the rose petal tamed the hurricane"

well, there they are... "for better, for worse" LOL! may God truly bless these marriages!

oh yeah, and slick chicken by joe christmas... "so,uh, what are you doing for the next 40 or 50 years? you wouldn't mind uh um marrying me much, would you?"

profound poetry

i have been reading "whiter than snow: meditations of sin and mercy" by paul david tripp, a series of 52 meditations based on Psalm 51. today's poem really struck me (and reminded me a little of some stuff i have written):

"I wish I would live with You in view;
Eyes to Your glory
Ears for Your wisdom
Heart for Your grace.
But I live with me in view.
Eyes to my kingdom
Ears for my opinion
Heart captured by my will.
I know I was made for You,
I know that Hope
Meaning
Purpose
Identity
My agenda for every day,
Is to be found in You.
But I want my own kingdom
I love my own glory
I define my own meaning
I delight in my control.
I know You are not fooled
By my burnt offerings.
There's a war that never ends;
The battleground is my heart.
It's a moral skirmish
Between what You have ordained
And what I want.
So I don't find pleasure in Your glory,
I don't delight in Your law.
But my heart doesn't rest;
I know there's a better way.
I know You are God
And I am not.
My sin is more than
Bad behavior
A bad choice
Wrong words.
My sin is a violation of the relationship
That I was meant to have with You.
My sin is an act
Where I replace You
With something I love more.
Every wrong thing I do
Reflects
A lack of love for You,
Reflects
A love of self.
Help me
To see
To acknowledge
To weep
And say,
'Against You, You only have I sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight.'
And then help me to rest
In Your mercy
In Your tender mercy
In Your faithful love,
Even as the war goes on."

our ebenezer

several years ago, we began the tradition of having a family "ebenezer" time (1 Sam. 7:12) when we are all together over the holidays. it has been such a blessed reminder to be able to share what the Lord has been teaching and working in our lives throughout the year as well as praying and singing with one another! we had our gathering this past saturday and the following are some thoughts and prayers that have risen in my mind from that time (as compiled from our quiz material - 2 Cor. 2-5):

gram - 2 Cor. 3:2 - thank you God for allowing us to be in the family of this faithful woman.
dad - 2 Cor. 5:18 - thank you for reminding us to view life through the lens of God's sovereignty!
mom - 2 Cor. 5:15 - thank you for your selfless example - may Christ receive all the glory!
uncle paul - 2 Cor. 5:20 - thank you for representing Christ well wherever you go!
aunt lois - 2 Cor. 2:4 - as sarah reminded us, your letters were such a reminder of your love :) thank you!
bean - 2 Cor. 4:8-10 - know that we are standing with you on our knees - He will not give you more than you can handle. may Christ's life be manifested through you even in this difficult time!
joey - 2 Cor. 3:16 - we pray for your turning - O Lord, remove the veil.
jason - 2 Cor. 3:12 - i began to pray this one for you as you shared - praise God for hope, praise God for boldness!
brandyn - 2 Cor. 4:13 - it's a blessing that you feel so free to share with us - and such faith to speak... may the baby within you grow to be God's mighty servant!
levi - 2 Cor. 5:7 - way to go learning your verse! may this truth guide your life, little priest :)
layla rose - 2 Cor. 4:17-18 - we never knew you, but we celebrate the wisdom of our God... you already know the glory far more than we do!
baby boyd - 2 Cor. 4:15 - may God's grace extend to you - increasing our thanksgiving and His glory!
ryan - 2 Cor. 3:5 - Christ IS your sufficiency. amen.
sarah - 2 Cor. 2:14 - your joy is a constant reminder of our triumphal procession, may it continue to spread the knowledge of Him.
julia - 2 Cor. 4:6 - may the light of Christ shine in your heart!
matt - 2 Cor. 5:17-19 - as a new creation in Christ, may you be an agent of reconciliation!
becky - 2 Cor. 5:11 - welcome to the family :) hopefully the time together has helped you to get to know us a little better.

hitting the nail on the head

after much anticipation, when i finally got the new thrice cd, beggars, 2 weeks ago, my first listen left me a little disappointed. but a crazy thing has happened, it has not left my player since! and i love it a little bit more every time it plays. much of this appreciation has to do with dustin kensrue's lyrics... great stuff! very biblical stuff like this from "all the world is mad":

We can’t medicate man to perfection again;
We can’t legislate peace in our hearts.
We can’t educate sin from our souls, it’s been there from the start.

But the blind lead the blind into bottomless pits,
Still we smile and deny that we’re cursed.
But of all our iniquities ignorance may be the worst.

Oh, what little light we have!
It only serves to show
The snares and seeds of wrath
We have already sewn on every path.

Praise God for Jesus Christ - the only remedy to our situation! "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:4-6

for the sake of His name

key:

what God will do

why God will do it

"thus says the Lord GOD: it is not for your sake, o house of israel, that i am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. and i will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. and the nations will know that i am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you i will vindicate my holiness before their eyes. i will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. i will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. and i will give you a new heart, and a new spirit i will put within you. and i will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. and i will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. you shall dwell in the land that i gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and i will be your God. and i will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. and i will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. i will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. it is not for your sake that i will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. be ashamed and confounded for your ways, o house of israel.

thus says the Lord GOD: on the day that i cleanse you from all your iniquities, i will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. and the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. and they will say, ' this land that was desolate has become like the garden of eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.' then the nations that are left all around you shall know that i am the LORD; i have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. i am the LORD; i have spoken, and i will do it.

thus says the Lord GOD: this also i will let the house of israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. then they will know that i am the LORD." Ezekiel 36:22-38

just another reason i love thrice

thrice - "in exile"

catching up via some mental images

several things that i have seen or heard over the past few weeks that have caused me to stop and think:

- standing behind a girl in line at the cafeteria, and reading the tattoo on the back of her neck: "trust no one." wow - what pain lies behind such a statement? what a hopeless credo to live by! praise God for surrounding me with people that i love and CAN trust... and even moreso, that even when these people fail me (cause CAN i really trust them or even myself 100% of the time?!?), i can ALWAYS trust God!

- hearing our pastor's young son (just turned 1) calling out from the back of the sanctuary just as we were closing the celebration of the Lord's Supper: "hi dada." and mark's reply of "hi benjamin." the significance that this meal represents the fact that we can approach the King of all creation, the Lord of heaven and earth with simple confidence as our "dada" through the death of His Son - the body and blood broken and shed for our sins. sweet communion!

- the preparations of an elderly christian man for the day of his funeral, assuring that the gospel would be spoken clearly even when he is gone from this lifetime by requesting that the first question of the heidelberg catechism be read as part of the ceremony:

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death? Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

rockin' out at red lights...

i like to put my ipod on shuffle as i drive around. well, yesterday was one of those times when a sweet song (get up by bleach) came on just as i pulled up to a red light. since i wasn't in the act of steering a vehicle, i was jamming on my air guitar. i glanced up and who was standing on the corner pointing and laughing at me? mark, my youth group leader from when i was in high school! i rolled down the window and yelled, "it's a sweet song!" to which he replied, "i know, i do the same thing all the time!"

as i drove on, i remembered a time when rick devore spoke for Bible club and shared a similar scenario. he likened the experience to the gospel: when people can hear the music, it makes perfect sense, but when they can't hear it, they can think we're pretty crazy.

we're just starting to embark on a year long journey through 1 and 2 Corinthians and Titus. paul may not have had an ipod, but i'm pretty sure he'd agree with the analogy:

"for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

as we head into camp this next week and throughout the entire year, my prayer is that many many young people would "hear the music of the gospel."

changin' focus a little bit

just a little under 2 years ago, i moved to an apartment house in east end next to my grandparents. a big part of me being there was to help keep an eye on them. well, now that they have moved to a nursing home, my purpose there needs to be more intentially directed elsewhere. where to? building relationships with my neighbors and sharing the truth of Jesus Christ with them. one main focus will be matt, who is buying pap and gram's house from them.

a good encouragement for this has come in studying Jonah this summer at disc golfing, and then having our messages in fairmont last week come from the same place. praise the Lord for the power of the gospel! (Jonah 2:9) may i be a useful tool in His hand!

ironically, what was playing on the ipod random shuffling this morning on the way to the office??? nineveh by brandtson! :)

it's so hard for me to tell you how i feel. and i can never say exactly what i mean. you are my nineveh and i've been jonah from the start. and i can't let you make the same mistakes i've made. if for a moment i could overcome my fear i wouldn't have to hide behind this fiction wall. sometimes i wonder how i call myself your friend. a failure to myself. a failure to Him. what if i told you. would you reach for Him after all. would you fall down to your knees. would you walk away from it all. would you fall down at His feet. and i watch you live in months between the sun. i can't help but feel that i wanted more than this. and still i smile inside and know it's not the end. because the light of hope is brighter than this wall of silence

for thought

"it is not enough to be correct in our beliefs about the Scriptures if God is not day by day dealing with us through the Scriptures." j.i. packer

would i? peg leg!

friday night, i experienced one of those "time slows down, brain makes analysis, body reacts" moments. i was heading for second base, and the shortstop had gotten a ground ball and was running there, too. there were two outs, and my brain did the math on the distance we both had to cover. if i slid HARD, i could beat him there. i did. the bad thing is, the bag didn't really give at all. so, since friday evening, my left leg has been like a giant stoved finger... a big, old club hanging from my hip. it really is troublesome when your knee refuses to bend!

one of the guys said to me as i stood doubled over after the slide, "you know, you really don't have to do that... especially when we're ahead 12-3." well, that's just not me. i go after it, cause that's the way i'm wired.

which brings me to the point of this blog... i was reading 2 Corinthians 12 the other day, and came across verse 15: "i will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls." did you catch that? "i will MOST GLADLY spend and be spent for your souls." that's how paul described his ministry! and that's how i want to be for the sake of the gospel (not just in athletic competition)!

the cool thing is, i can couple the two in softball. after playing 8 or 10 years with my cousins' church, we have our own team this year. it mostly consists of young guys who aren't very active in church and whom i don't know much about their spiritual condition. of course, it's my privilege to have the team devotions before the games and to make sure that the gospel is plainly spelled out for all to hear.

what's my prayer in this thing? "God, i'm asking You for these souls!!! (fred, fred, nate, jake, zach, sam, brian, jess, jeff, steve, matt, nate, brian, louis). i will MOST GLADLY spend and be spent for them! use me."

pilgrims (what may flowers bring)

may has seen me spending a lot of time in the garden, and since i always fill out those email surveys that ask "what do you want to be when you grow up?" with "a gardener," it has been a particularly enjoyable month. (even with all the other "life" stuff swirling around)

i've been tossing this particular blog entry around in my mind for quite some time. in fact, i first started thinking about it when looking at the tulips outside my front door just before leaving for nationals and realizing that they'd bloom while i was gone, and that i'd probably miss most of their "beautiful" days.

(yes, these are azaleas not tulips past their prime blooming)

as i spent time at nationals meditating on all the Scripture that had been memorized throughout the year, 1 Peter 1:24-25 came to mind:

"all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. the grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever."

praise God for the eternality of His Word! may it fall on good soil.(Luke 8:11-15)

everything i need

so i've been reading concurrently through the old and new testaments... today's reading had me in Exodus 29 and Mark 6. interestingly enough, both had something to do with God's provision for those whom He calls to serve Him.

in Exodus 29:31-34, the priests are to eat portions of the sacrifice of atonement in His presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. not only does God provide the atonement that allows us to come into His presence, He even provides the food for us to eat!

in Mark 6:30-44, Jesus' disciples are tired after coming back from a time of ministry. He takes them off to "a desolate place" to "rest a while." they hadn't even had the leisure to eat... well, you know the story, the crowd beat's them to the desolate spot and Jesus spends the day teaching them. then He tells the disciples to feed them. talk about blowing their minds! well, who multiplied the bread? Jesus. who gave the disciples what they needed to carry out His command? Jesus. and who provided leftovers for the disciples? Jesus.

even (especially) when i feel like i'm over my head... i can trust the Lord to provide EVERYTHING I NEED! lol - and all the other times? well, He's the one providing then, too, i'm just too dumb to recognize it!

the time between times

may's kinda the month where the quiz season is done, Bible club is wrapping up, and i kinda get a deep breath from youth ministry before pressing on into the coming year. besides a lot of weeding and planting in the garden, i've also been doing some reading... including rereading thomas watson's "heaven taken by storm: showing the holy violence a christian is to put forth in the pursuit after glory." here are some good thoughts on meditation:

"[meditation] is a holy exercise of the mind whereby we bring the truths of God to remembrance, and do seriously ponder upon them and apply them to ourselves.... but where is the meditating christian? here i might lament the lack of holy meditation. most people live in a hurry. they are so distracted with the cares of the world that they can find no time to meditate or scarcely ask their souls how they do.... i dare to be bold to say that if men would spend but one quarter of an hour every day in contemplating heavenly objects, it would leave a mighty impression on them.... but how should we meditate? get a love for spiritual things. we usually meditate on those things which we love. the voluptuous man can muse on his pleasures; the covetous man on his bags of gold. if we loved heavenly things, we would meditate more on them. many say they cannot meditate because they lack memory; but is it not rather because they lack affection? if they loved the things of God, they would make them their continual study and meditation."

pretty applicable stuff from a guy who wrote over 300 years ago!

all things are working together OR He is God, i am not

as previously mentioned, i'm not a way distant thinker, but a "now" type of person. well, today's one of those days when the status quo is being shaken up a bunch (looks like a nursing home's a must :( ), so i'm especially thankful that our sunday school lesson this past week was from Romans 8:28-39!

***there are so many precious promises that i am clinging to in that passage, since life is currently beyond my feeble understanding!

thoughts on prayer (the day after the national day)

"but after we have learned by faith to know that whatever is necessary for us or defective in us is supplied in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ... that we may thence draw as from an inexhaustible fountain, it remains for us to seek and in prayer implore of Him what we have learned to be in Him. to know God as the sovereign disposer of all good, inviting us to present our requests, and yet not to approach or ask of Him, were so far from availing us, that it were just as if one told of a treasure were to allow it to remain buried in the ground." j. calvin

"let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from and evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:19-22

do it!

christianity in its very essence is a resurrection religion!

Thine is the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death has won;
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
Kept the folded grave clothes where Thy body lay.
Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,
Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death has won.

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
Let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;
For her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.
Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,
Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death has won.

No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life;
Life is naught without Thee; aid us in our strife;
Make us more than conqu’rors, through Thy deathless love:
Bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above.
Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,
Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death has won.

a very good place to start...

when you mix together my love of the sound of music and techno (and my friend links to this video), then i wind up whistling do re mi and dancing around like i did yesterday...

ironically enough, as justin was doodling on his paper while we were waiting for others to finish their table officials' tests last evening, i realized what "1 2 3 4..." is in luke - and it IS elementary!

"for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:34

blood of the Healer, fall on me...

it's not enough to simply know the facts of Christ's death and resurrection... to know that His blood pays the price of sin, or even to know that it pays for sins of the people around me. i need His blood to pay for MY SIN. God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

"knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." 1 Peter 1:18-19

we've sung this hymn a couple times recently

it's "come ye sinners, poor and needy," by joseph hart

this verse is especially great:

come, ye weary, heavy laden,
lost and ruined by the fall;
if you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all.

me against me against me

i've been reading a devotional book by john stott called "through the Bible, through the year." this week's readings are the 7 words of Jesus from the cross. today, in thinking about His total selflessness in saying, "Father forgive them," in the midst of His suffering and pain, i was forced to repent of my own selfishness. i think that the time when it rears its head the most is when i'm sick or injured, and Jesus was specifically thinking of OTHERS in the midst of His pain... i need to keep the words of Philippians 2:3-4 always before me!

the title i gave this makes me think of a great old project song:


(yeah, i've been this close)

my mother's words haunt me still...

when sarah and i were younger, mom had some key catchphrases she'd use - things like "with great skill and dexterity" and "you can't sue me, i already am." sometimes when we were being especially obnoxious, she would tell us, "you can be replaced by a short monkey." that phrase always seemed kind of odd to me and stuck in my head, so much so that we even named a spaceman joe album of oddities after it.

so i've been gone all week. i saw on the facebook that heather had put up some photos of people "studying" while i was gone. in one of them, i noticed that randi had a stuffed animal that i did not recognize. hmmmm.

well, today, while we were getting ready to study, joey pulls the monkey out and tosses it to randi and refers to it as "little steve." i asked, "where did that come from and what did you just call it?" joey said, "i found it in the basement the other day, and we named it after you since you were gone."

so, yeah, i've been replaced by a short monkey!!!! (thanks mom) ;)

jon price, tim keller and tony dinozzo

(it's been a hectic week... i'd meant to blog this much sooner)

jon price preached (or is it praught) at our church sunday morning from John 4:4-27 - talking about Jesus sharing the gospel with the samaritan woman and what our attitude is towards unbelievers... or as he was saying "those" people...

some of his points echoed tim keller from his book, the reason for God... which i highly recommend. (i on the other hand was quoting from the prodigal God on sunday evening, which i would ALSO recommend :) )

interestingly enough, my mind also went back to watching an episode of ncis with the mccoys and ramseys saturday evening(maggie and jeremy were in for the weekend and are in love with the show almost as much as my parents). in the episode, tony was undercover as an escaped convict in an attempt to get another convict to lead him to some stolen valuables. little did he know that the seemingly mild mannered prisoner was a serial killer! when he found out tony was a federal agent and was about to slit his throat from behind, he made this comment:

"Just so you know, when I said no one ever treated me like you did, I meant that."

now tony dinozzo is not someone that i would usually point to as a model for behavior. however, shouldn't that be the reaction of people around us to our attitude and witness... humble servants sharing the truth out of hearts compelled by the love of Christ!!!!

(the contrast of sinner/righteous stereotypes is also a major theme in the gospel of luke... maybe more on that later)

celebrating green

nah... not because it's st. patrick's day... because i noticed some of the first flowers popping up out of the ground this morning... a great reminder of new birth in Christ - life from death... i've been reading a really good book by john piper on that subject, you should check it out! me? now i'm excited to do yardwork! :)

i had to help pap put on his socks this morning

this past month, especially since gram got home from the hospital, i've been reflecting a lot on a lesson i first learned in tanzania in the spring of 2001. i had some really great alone time with God at the guest house we stayed at in dar es salaam. mike and i were doing seminars morning and evening, but in the afternoons i got to spend some precious time in study and prayer on a patio overlooking the indian ocean...

anyway, for several years, one of our key thoughts that we kept coming back to at Bible study was "pleasing God is a good thing" (originally springing from Hebrews 11:6... it was the answer i could always count on jen roberts to come up with)... as i was reading my Bible in tanzania, i came across Ephesians 5:10: "find out what pleases the Lord." hmmm - a command - i like straight forward commands. kinda like having a to do list, it gives direction.

now this was several years before i read "the pleasures of God," (i HIGHLY recommend it) and i didn't go nearly as in depth as john piper did... but, what i did do was to flip through my concordance and look for the words "this pleases the Lord." seemed pretty logical ;)

well, one of the first passages i came to was 1 Timothy 5:4 "if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing to God."

boom! smack in the face. i had to repent of the fact that i sometimes resented the "inconvenience" of going down the driveway to my grandmother's trailer to help her with things. this was a mirror into the selfishness of my sin nature... i want my own way and to control my own schedule... i need to constantly be reminded to humble myself before God's will, saying "USE ME! HOWEVER, WHEREVER, WHENEVER!"

little did i realize at the time, that i had less than a year to put this lesson into practice with gram... next week, it'll be 7 years she's been gone. but now, as i live next to my other grandparents, and as they struggle with failing health and many "difficult" days, may my service to them be a reflection of my gratitude to Jesus for His gracious sacrifice for me and of gratitude for godly grandparents who are in a large part responsible for who i am today! Lord, help me to serve you with JOY!

getting bogged down

"but watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. but stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:34-36

i'm a "right here, right now" type of person (no, not like jesus jones... though i CAN do the falsetto). more like, i can get very focused on the place that i am, the people i'm around, the task at hand or even the current distraction. this can be a good thing in some instances (such as not getting homesick when traveling or pushing to finish a task), but it can also become a tunnel vision that keeps me from thinking ahead. i miss the big picture and need reminding.

as i read this passage today, it was a big picture reminder. "watch" - i tend to notice this word a lot. i don't think that Jesus would say "watch," if there wasn't a danger.

as i was meditating on this idea of dangers that could bog me down and take my mind off of the reality of Christ's impending return, i realized that i wasn't coming up with a good mental definition of "dissipation." so i looked it up. of course, the first one in the list wasn't really all that helpful:

1. the act of dissipating.

duh. but then it got thought provoking:

2. the state of being dissipated; dispersion; disintegration.
3. a wasting by misuse: the dissipation of a fortune.
4. mental distraction; amusement; diversion.
5. dissolute way of living, esp. excessive drinking of liquor; intemperance.
6. Physics, Mechanics. a process in which energy is used or lost without accomplishing useful work, as friction causing loss of mechanical energy.

how do i keep from wasting what i have, just muddling through the day? i need to heed Jesus' commands: watch, stay awake, pray... be aware of His impending return, because someday i will stand before the Son of Man.

instead...

when i turned on the radio this morning, this song was playing. it's been awhile since i've heard it, but it made me sad to listen - especially the line, "my daddy gave me a name, then he walked away."



i've spent some time meditating this morning on Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:5-9 and Luke 11:2-13. how very important it is that we raise up a generation who understands the true nature of our Heavenly Father and who live out their relationships in light of that knowledge and relationship!

practical christian living

"'everything bad [the ungodly] can seize hold of in our life is twisted maliciously against Christ and His teaching. the result is that by our fault God's sacred name is exposed to insult. the more closely we see ourselves being watched by our enemies, the more intent we should be to avoid their slanders, so that their ill-will strengthens us in the desire to do well.'

as believers we should seek to be exemplary in every aspect of our lives, doing our best for the sake of Christ and His gospel. our work, play, driving and shopping should all be done with a view that unbelievers will be attracted to the gospel that they see at work in our lives."

(the content of this post as well as the title comes straight from tuesday's devotional by jerry bridges... the quote within the quote is from john calvin)

hitting the homestretch

so you have your gregorian calendar, your lunar calendar, your fiscal calendar, your liturgical calendar, your school calendar, your chinese calendar... but my calendar, of course, is the quiz season calendar. i don't remember if i was born in the year of the monkey or the rabbit or the rat, but i DO remember that i graduated in the year of luke. and crazy enough, i keep track of when others graduated in the same way.

well, i've just about come full cycle again. there are just over two months left with this gospel which is so full of treasures. it seems like so long since the days of meditating on Luke 1:4.

this morning i had the opportunity to speak at chapel for the christian school (the first time since they became our new downtown neighbors), and i expanded some on saturday's quiz devotional. i read a good portion of chapters 22 and 23 (thank you whitney and joey and justin - you got my head in these ones a lot) looking at different people's reactions to who Jesus is. we focused most specifically on the thief on the cross who understood his just punishment, Jesus' undeserved death AND the fact that Jesus alone had say over his eternal destiny. (Luke 23:39-43; 2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

anyway, i just came away from that time marveling at the goodness of God as He has opened up the whole of the book throughout the year and enabled me to pull further illustrations from earlier in the book even as i spoke today about chapter 23! what an exciting process, what an amazing God!

little did i realize that i was about to receive a multiplied blessing... in checking my email before heading home to put out pap's trash, i read a missionary update from the sawka's who work in Bible translation in zambia (ironically, ken used to teach at the christian school). i'll share a paragraph:

Because their language has been neglected and is not well known outside their own area, the Soli have been called ‘the hidden language group’ of Zambia. They number well over 50,000 speakers but have never had a book published in their language. We hope to have the first book in Soli by the end of this year, and it will be a book of the Bible!!

and below that paragraph is a picture with this caption: "first drafts of the gospel of luke in the soli language"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah, this living and active Word that has been unfolding anew for me this year will be the first thing that these people EVER READ IN THEIR LANGUAGE! praise God - may He open hearts and eyes!

***please pray for the sawka's in their translation work, for our quiz teams as we wrap up the local season and head for nationals in st. louis AND for the christian school... i would love to see them add Bible quizzing next year - especially since they are now down here close!

2 randoms from last night

first, on lost, there was one of the greatest lines... ever. during a particularly tense situation, jack asked ben "how can you read?" ben's response: "my mother taught me how." totally deadpan... i LOVE it!

second, i've been reading a devotional by jerry bridges, holiness day by day. last night's was dealing with Titus 2:11-12. he gives a very helpful and convicting definition for "ungodliness":

"ungodliness in its broadest form basically comprises disregarding God, ignoring Him, or not taking Him into account in one's life. it's a lack of fear and reverence for Him... a person may be highly moral and even benevolent and still be ungodly."

i've definitely been chewing on that one a bunch! the coolest part? God's grace trains us to renounce ungodliness! :)

post super bowl thoughts...

the number of late games (4:15 start) that the steelers have played this year coupled with the fact that evening church is 6-7 and youth group 7-8:30, i haven't seen many entire games this season. however, more than once, we spent the first 10-15 minutes of youth group listening to a tense final few minutes on the radio as they pulled out dramatic wins...

with that in mind, after i got over the initial shock and disappointment of fitzgerald's go ahead touchdown, my first two thoughts were very similar to mike tomlin's post-game sentiments: "well, at least they have more than 2 minutes on the clock," and "i'm sure they can pull this out, it's what they've been doing all year."

oh, we did youth group before church last night, so i got to catch the end of the first half and all of the second half AND the steelers beat the cardinals 67-60 in our annual youth group table top football super bowl. (we play 7 minute quarters)

no longer

i've been reading a commentary on the minor prophets, which of course begins with hosea. this week, Hosea 2:16 really caught my attention... (twice actually - which means that the first blog entry remains unwritten or actually has been included together with this one):

the first english version of the Bible that i had looked at translates the verse "you will call me 'My Husband'" and "no longer 'My Master." i was meditating and praying through that idea... how i long for myself and for the students to which i minister to react in our relationship with God based on the true nature of His covenant with us: a loving relationship, rather than one of duty... ie. not saying "well, i'll do it because i have to" or afraid of punishment but out of joy of relationship and a longing for the pleasure of God. (understanding that HIS pleasure is what brings me pleasure).

well, when i was getting ready to type that all out the other day, i was caught up short when i read the esv (and subsequently several other versions). rather than translating the word to english "master," - it leaves it as the proper name "baal." that can throw a whole new twist into it - not saying that the first thought is not a good meditating/prayer point, but that perhaps it is not necessarily the main point that is being addressed here.

rather (and it makes sense understanding the entire context of hosea), the prayer should be that we as the people of God would return to proper relationship with our covenant God as opposed to pursuing and crying after other lovers. speaking personally and corporately - it is SO EASY to be tempted to "chase the skirts" of so many baals.

oh God, may i, may we return to our first love! do a Hosea 2:17 work in us... "remove the names of the baals from [our] mouth[s]!"

baby it's COLD outside...

(though def not as cold as minn/wisc... we are soft!) so last night, i was a little reluctant to go out to the car to go home. i wound up following a little trail on the internet, that i will now lead you down. why, you ask? because the end results are a couple really cool things that i found!

(keep in mind, this is all occurring while i'm having a conversation with matt clutter on the facebook)

last week, rachel had commented on my blog that she had gotten my message to levi. however, when she asked me this week if i had seen her message, well, i had not. so i read it last night and then clicked to look if she had updated. seeing her profile, part of her "interests" intrigued me: bible quizzing. hmmmm, i thought, i wonder who all i might know of all the bloggers who are interested in bible quizzing. who did i happen to find? teens for Christ northwest! i read on their blog about an online practice quiz generator (i probably should have noticed that the entry was from 2004) which was located on their homepage. the generator's not there, but i DID find two gems: reftagger and wordle.

reftagger allows me to type in a reference such as my life verse, Hebrews 4:12, and as long as i capitalize it, the reader can scroll over the reference and see the verse! without me having to worry about linking to bible gateway or anything else...

wordle in simple terms makes word art. the input comes from your entered text OR from an rss or atom feed. what is really cool is that the words are sized by how often they occur. the really sweet art on tfc's site shows the gospel of luke, and which are the 400 words that most frequently occur (it can weed out common words like "the" and "a" and "and").
(oh, this one's actually only the top 300 words...)

i was like, COOL! so i experimented awhile. here are some of my creations:

Godspeed by mortal


dr. seuss's ABCs for my little cousin levi
(i removed the words "big", "little", and "begins" cause they dwarfed everything!)


some will seek forgiveness, others escape by underoath


sunday, bloody sunday by u2


running to stand still by u2


every new day by five iron frenzy


come thou fount of every blessing


Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)


stare at the sun by thrice

oh the irony

the other day i was listening to the radio and a guy was commenting on the somali pirates who had hijacked a saudi oil tanker. he was lamenting the fact that they had given in on their demands and accepted $3 million for its release rather than their initial $5 million ransom price. he was making a humorous point about the devaluing of the dollar, and that if they were gonna take such a risk they ought to get their money's worth. well, believe me, i was surprised to see this article a little later on. welcome to reality, boys, Jesus' words still ring true:

"for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"
Luke 9:25

oh the weather outside is frightful...

so a verse that i've been mulling over since sunday evening's sermon is Matthew 24:12: "and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." as i was meditating on it yesterday, another verse that came to mind was 2 Timothy 1:6: "for this reason, i remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands."

i've been getting a graphic illustration of this lately because of the cold weather and stoking my woodburner. i am also reminded that charles spurgeon referred to members of his congregation who would pray for him while he preached as the church's "boiler room."

so i am striving to be stoking my life daily with the Word of God (Psalm 39:3), adding the breath of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), praying for the spark of the Spirit (Luke 11:13), moving around in acts of service (1 Cor. 16:15) and seeking the warming friction of fellow believers (Prov 27:17). may my heart stay well warmed within me, O God!

"when you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn!" john wesley