secondjohnvs12

3rd world near your world?

2010-06-02T08:17:00.002-05:00

During the month of May we presented a weekly challenge for our church to help us understand how others in the world live. The idea was to walk in someone's shoes to see what it would be like to live in a culture where poverty was the norm. I have been to Mexico several times and I have seen poverty. I have recently been to Kenya and I have seen a people group living without basic necessities - such as clean water. I have watched on the news and seen the devastation in places like Haiti which was very poor to start with.

The first week's challenge was to live without power. Starting on Monday we turned off all the electrical breakers to our house except the one which powered our fridge. The experience was actually very good for us as a family. We talked more. We played games together. We discussed the way people in foreign places lived without electricity.

Ironically, late Tuesday night Bonnie discovered that her cell phone charger was missing and since our home phone would not work without power she was somewhat desperate to get a new charger so that she could take it to work and pirate enough power to charge her phone. Being the kind, considerate, loving, husband I volunteered to head out to Wal-Mart to see if we could remedy this problem.

As I turned off our street to head to Wal-Mart I noticed a gentleman walking past our street. I don't know why I noticed him. I see people walking all the time and routinely pass them without a second look. But for some reason I noticed this guy. Maybe it was the way he walked with purpose. Maybe it was that he was dressed in a uniform as though he was coming home from work. Maybe it was the week in which we were involved in that made me more in tune to others around me. But for whatever reason I noticed him and was compelled to turn around and ask if he needed a ride. So after a few blocks of waffle, I turned around and picked him up. This older gentleman was indeed walking home from work. He told me that he was a janitor or "floor technician" at one of the local Middle Schools. He had finished his shift and his ride did not show, so he was walking. I quickly calculated that he had already walked about 4 miles and when he told me where he lived I guessed he still had another 3 miles to go. I was glad to give this guy a ride. He seemed to be a hard working man who needed a ride home from a long day of work.

As we approached his neighborhood, he began to tell me that he and his brother were living in a house they had inherited from their father and that it needed some fixing. I don't know why he felt like telling me this. I guess it was just something he was thinking about and when you are with a stranger sometimes you will find yourself talking about stuff for no reason just to keep a conversation going. As we pulled into the driveway of this house he said these words, "Right now we are living without power." I think I said something spiritual and profound like, "Really?" as he exited my car.

I checked with the city the next day, there are less than 1% of our city who live without power. And part of that small percentage stepped into my car the week we are living without power. Again, "really?"

I don't know exactly where this will lead, but I do know that God is teaching me.

3rd world 2 your world

2010-05-25T09:52:00.002-05:00

During the month of May Two Rivers has taken a challenge to live as others in the world live. We are hoping that by denying ourselves some of the things that we have become so comfortable with in our culture we might know what it is like to live, for just a few days and in some small ways, in a 3rd world country. The weekly challenges are as follows:

week one - live without power
week two - eat rice & beans
week three - bike to work
week four - live on $2 per day

The great thing about these weekly challenges is that each family can choose their level of involvement. This is also an anti-fundraiser meaning that you can give to a cause (Haiti) without spending any money. Simply take the money that you would have spent on power, gas, food etc. and give it to the cause. We are hoping to raise at least $1,000 to be given to help with ongoing relief efforts in Haiti.

The first week our family decided to turn off all of our breakers except the one to our refrigerator. We thought that buying ice, or letting the food we had go bad wasn't in the spirit of the event so we made that concession. The one other concession we made (for the sake of our marriage) was each morning I would turn on one breaker so that Bonnie could dry her hair as she got ready for work. Other than that we lived off the grid.

The week was a great experience for our family. We were able to talk to our girls about how others live in the world and they seemed to really get it. I know the teachers at their school think we are crazy, but they have a whole life in front of them to get used to that! One thing we learned is that we don't have to have some of the things we have. For instance: 500 cable channels: 20 minute steaming hot showers: air conditioning set at 65: constant entertainment: just to name a few. We also learned that the 3rd world isn't as far away as we thought. I will tell that story in my next post.

For now we know that sometimes simple is good. Conversation with your wife and family tops 'Funniest Home Videos.' Cool showers can be invigorating. Candles are romantic. Mac & cheese cooked on the grill tastes good. Denial is good for the soul. And God is still there, even in the dark.

More of my thoughts on this month later.

haiti

2010-01-19T08:53:00.003-05:00

Last week I was reading from Psalm 10 about the time the earthquake happened in Haiti. Here is the first verse in this chapter...

1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

I guess the burden of what is happening in Haiti makes us wonder like David did, "Where is God in times of trouble?" I have been at the place in my life where I wondered the same thing. Ever looked over the edge of your life and asked, "Where are you God in this situation?" I think it is a natural thing to ask this question during difficulties. And I'm not sure that there is a hard and fast answer except this... He is always there. Whether we realize it or not. He is present. God may not interact the way we think he should but know that he is present. I believe that in the weeks and months to come we will see the end of this chapter played out in Haiti...

17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

May we always know, even if we question, that God is ever present. He is real. He is God.

how majestic

2010-01-12T08:06:00.003-05:00

I am spending this week in Myrtle Beach with some good friends. I woke up to a view of the ocean and a very nice sunrise. Then I read this passage...

Psalm 8
A psalm of David.

1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

crouching sin, hidden God?

2010-01-11T06:47:00.002-05:00

Genesis 4:7

Since I was a kid I have always had a fear that God was watching me. I guess it comes from the theology that God is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere. It sorta reminds me of the old 'He sees when you are sleeping, He knows when you're awake, He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.' I've always thought Santa was a little creepy because of that song. But recently I have been rethinking this idea of God. I don't believe that God is watching and trying to find out who's 'naughty and nice.'

Just after Cain was disheartened by rejection of his offering to God, Cain is depressed. Genesis 4:7 - God comes to Cain and makes this statement, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

This is not the childhood picture of God sneaking around to catch you in a sin. Rather this is God pleading with Cain before he sinned - asking him to consider what he is about to do. I hear these words echoing through history, "sin is crouching at your door" God is saying, "Be careful. Don't sin." Not "A-ha I caught you! Now you are going to Hell!" Our God loves us. He wants us to do what is right. Not because He sneaks around, but because He wants relationship with us. If we sin, we separate ourselves from God.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
Or stand in the way of sinners
Or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

This is what I hope this year is for me. Seeking God. Meditating on His word. Not afraid of God catching me in sin, rather firmly planted by streams of water. And this is my prayer for us all.

inspiring records

2010-01-08T15:00:00.003-05:00

Matthew 1:1-17

One of my new year's resolutions is to be more organized. This week I couldn't find some paperwork we needed to wrap up some stuff from 2009, so I looked and looked and searched and searched and it didn't help that there was someone waiting for the info. I went to where I knew it was and only half was there. After about twenty minutes of looking and sweating, I found it, but I wish I were more organized.

While I was reading the first chapter of Matthew this week it struck me how precise the accounting of Jesus family tree is recorded here in this gospel. Fourteen generations from Jesus back to the exile, fourteen generations from the exile to David, and fourteen generations from David to Abraham. Honestly, I'm not sure who my great grandparents are on either side of my family.

My Dad has done some research into our family history, but we are still not sure exactly where our heritage comes from. We think Scotland, but we can't say for sure. You would think with the record keeping in modern history that we could at least go back a couple hundred years so that we could determine where our relatives moved to the U.S. from, but we have not figured it out.

That makes the record keeping in Matthew 1 that much more impressive. Would it even be possible to keep records like that without the help of God? Several thousand years of records. All pointing to one fact - Jesus is God. He is the promised Messiah. All pointing to one truth - God is God. He is the inspired genealogist.

2010 Reading Plan

2010-01-07T09:21:00.002-05:00

Click HERE to download a PDF of the Two Rivers Church 2010 Bible Reading Plan. Then subscribe to this blog to follow my progress. I will post a couple entries weekly that correspond to the week's reading.

grace & peace.

david

trc interactive response

2009-10-21T14:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry this has taken longer than it should have, none-the-less here are some of my responses to some great questions. A lot of these questions were answered naturally during the teaching, if you were not there you can hear the whole sermon on our podcast at iTunes by searching Two Rivers Church.

1. so isnt the issue sexual immorality and lust rather than the persons preference

Response: I believe that we covered this in the teaching, but let me state it again in a different way. The biblical model is one man and one woman commit their lives together and are monogamous. Anything outside of this marriage covenant is sexual immorality. This includes heterosexual sin and homosexual sin. There is no difference in these two sins. A person's preference if it is not for the opposite sex and with the person they are married to equals sexual immorality.

2. How does the view of homosexuality apply to people who undergo surgery/treatment to change how the world precives them?

Response: I believe we are created by God intentionally, therefore we should not alter our bodies. This goes hand in hand with my belief that God does not create someone genetically homosexual. Homosexuality is a choice not a chromosome. While the media has adopted this idea as true, there is no scientific evidence only theory.

3. Unsuccessful apology = calling homosexuality a struggle, like its a disease that you can be cured

Response: I am sorry that my apology was not accepted in the way that it was intended. Here it is word for word:

"On behalf of God and His church we would like to offer this apology. We are sorry for our mistreatment of homosexuals. We are sorry for vilifying those who struggle with this issue of morality while we neglect to address our own hatred and bigotry. We pray that our actions will not keep others from hearing about the love of God and the salvation through the name of Christ."

The fact that we cannot agree on the science of homosexuality does not change the fact that there are some Christians who have consistently mistreated those who have a homosexual orientation. That is why an apology is necessary. There is no excuse for those who preach hate toward homosexuals. Unfortunately we will still disagree on the science. I do understand why someone would call this apology unsuccessful if they disagree with the root premise that homosexuality is morally wrong. This is why I took so much pains to explain the platform from which I was talking about this subject.

4. even with your view that homosexuality is a sin, how would you welcome a person(s) to your church?

Response: This is the best question of the day and one that speaks most directly to the issue that we as a church should be most concerned with. The answer is simply love. My prayer is that Two Rivers Church is a place where all people can find love. Anything less than that and we have failed as a church.

Thanks for all the questions. TRC interactive will be back soon.

trc interactive: 09.27.09

2009-09-28T15:21:00.004-05:00

Yesterday at Two Rivers Church we tackled a very difficult topic in our series "Confessions of a sinful church." Our apology was this, "We are sorry for our mistreatment of homosexuals." As you can imagine this was a very sensitive subject and our interactive text message element reflected this.

Before I list every comment, let me give you a couple statistics:

According to Gallup's 2008 Values and Beliefs survey
48% of Americans believe that homosexual relations are morally wrong &
48% of Americans believe that homosexual relations are morally acceptable

In 2001:
53% believed it morally wrong (that's a 5 point drop)
40% believed it morally acceptable (that's an 8 point increase)

According to Lifeway research:
39% of Catholics
61% of Protestants
79% of evangelical Protestants said they do believe homosexual behavior is sinful.

29% of Americans said their decision to visit or join a church would be positively affected if that congregation taught homosexual behavior is a sin.
32% of Americans – almost one in three – said their decision to visit or join a church would be negatively affected if that congregation taught homosexual behavior is sinful.

TRC Interactive:

thumbs up....wow
so isnt the issue sexual immorality and lust rather than the persons preference
even with your view that homosexuality is a sin, how would you welcome a person(s) to your church?
How does the view of homosexuality apply to people who undergo surgery/treatment to change how the world precives them?
we are still called to love
love the sinner not the sin
how do you draw a line between loving a homosexual and being seen as hypocritical?
So just because a couple can't reproduce means its wrong?
how do we help other christians (that represent option one) understand the need for relationship evangalism?
it is not our place to judge. God still loves the sinner..(us!) so why should we not love others?!
reproduction has nothing do do with it. lust and sexual immorality as sin is the issue
Should we hate them and terrorize them, NO. But are we supposed to except what the bible clearly say is wrong?
...and if were really growing in Him we LOVE like Him...God sent His Son to die for all sinners because He loved us...love is the answer.
We should not accept and do nothing. We are to accept the person, and in a loving manner..lead them to the truth
Unsuccessful apology = calling homosexuality a struggle, like its a disease that you can be cured
as we grow in Christ, we must grow closer to Him and become more like Him and in order to do that we must learn to love like He loved and loves
homosexuality is a strugglejust as one would struggle with any other sinful temptation
still.. How do we argue against legalization of same sex marriage without looking like we don't accept homosexuals
In order to minister to someone, you must love them enough to want to show them God's love -3 Little Birds

Great comments / questions. Later this week I will tackle some of these.

interactive questions

2009-09-24T09:32:00.003-05:00

So, we had a lot of responses to our interactive element this past Sunday (see previous post) and out of this plethora of feedback there were actually a couple of really good questions. Each week we use this element I will follow-up here on my blog with answers to the questions which did not get answered on Sunday morning.

1. Was Back to the Future based on a novel?

According to Wikipedia, Back to the Future was a 1985 science fiction adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis, co-written by Bob Gale and produced by Steven Spielberg. Zemeckis and Gale wrote the script after Gale mused upon whether he would have befriended his father if they attended school together.

So the answer to the question is no, Back to the Future was written as a screenplay not a novel.

2. To kill a mocking bird- I don't know if this is American. Ha!

This is almost a question so I will answer this as well. To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American literature. (again from Wikipedia)

3. Does goat milk spoil faster than cow milk? ((VNS&DNE)<3)

I'm not sure what this has to do with anything and there is not much information about the subject. What I did find out is that raw goat or cow milk does spoil faster than pasteurized.

4. Wouldn't it be funny if someone jumped out of the booth??

No, actually what would be funny is if someone repelled down on top of the Confession Booth.

5. Are Christians to think of themselves as slaves to Christ?

The idea of being a slave to Christ is mentioned one time in the New Testament in the book of Ephesians chapter 6:

5Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men

The context of this passage is to teach those who were slaves (most likely indentured servants) to be true to their position and honor the relationship they have with their master. Paul makes the analogy that they should serve their masters just as they would serve Christ. In the 1st century church there were many who were slaves and had become Christians, so this analogy would be familiar to their culture. For us today the analogy still rings true, we should submit to Christ as a slave would submit to their master.

Another of the interactive texts stated that we are not slaves, rather sons of the King. This is also a New Testament principle. Galatians 3 states:

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We are all heirs to the promise of Abraham, children of the King. There is no distinction when it pertains to the availability of salvation to all.

6. Why was slavery permitted in Jesus time?

Slavery is something that has been around in different forms for as long as history has been recorded. The fist mention of slavery in the Bible is in the book of Genesis as Abram is introduced. Most scholars believe that many of the slaves in Jesus' day and culture were more like indentured servants than what we think of as slaves. Those who were in debt could work for the one who they were indebted to as a means of working off their debt. Jewish law states in that Hebrew slaves must be set free after six years. While we are certainly appalled by the idea of slavery we cannot change history or past cultures, we can only hope to work for those who are still in slavery in parts of the world today.

7. Is flying the confederate flag offensive to others?

I would say, and this is strictly my opinion, that there are some who are offended by the confederate flag and there are some who are not. Just like there are some who fly the confederate flag with only southern pride and no racist intent and there are those who fly the stars and bars because they want to make a racial statement. I believe that as Christians we should be careful how we celebrate our heritage whether it is southern, African, or otherwise, we should always do our best to represent Christ first. That means that there may be times when we don't do something that might be offensive even if it is not meant with that intent.

Overall, I really like the fact that we can have dialog about the teaching, so we will continue to use the interactive element with some tweaks. May we all strive to learn and grow as a community of believers.

new worship element

2009-09-24T08:45:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday at TRC we ushered in a new element to our adult teaching time. After much effort we figured out how to have interactive text messaging. Essentially our attenders could text questions or comments about the teaching and they were displayed on the screen. Most of our folks liked the concept, but we all agreed that there needed to be a few tweaks to make it more effective.

Below is the thread of all the comments we received starting from bottom to top: (Note- there were two directed questions that I asked which is explains some of the responses, 1. What's your favorite American novel? 2. What's the worst kind of insect sting?)

giant radio active pamlico county mosquitos
A lady bug bite...ugh
Caterpillar...trust me it can happen
My ex husband
Ticks
Eddy put c's answer on the board. ((VNS&DNE)<3)
Twinrivers man spidermonkeys are bad one bit my leg off.
Lol ((VNS&DNE)<3)
A wasp on your eyelid lol.
An ant bite to the toe...the day before my wedding!
Since people are putting spiders which are not insects, im going to say a snake bite
Mosquito's
Spiderman
Bullet ants..I have never been stung but this guy was on tv
$corpians
horsefly
We are not slaves of christ but sons of the king
The poisonness kind. ((VNS&DNE)<3)
Horse fly
Horse fly
Horsefly
Cow killer ants
A wasp sting on your behind.
fire ants...they sting and itch and swell. jerks
Scorpion... Trust me it was really bad. Like hospital bad!!!
Red hornet
Wasp/hornet
An ant bite to the toe...the day before my wedding!
A lady bug bite...ugh
Fireant
Horsefly
Hornet
Caterpillar
Ground Bee
Fire ants
Brown recluse spider
Hornet
Red ants
That wasn't intresting that was boring
Sorry mean 1710
Mennonites were some of the first settlers of new bern in 17101 interesting!
Because people were too indolent to do things themselves. ((VNS&DNE)<3)
Yours is working i see it
Why was slavery permitted in jesus time
Are Christians to think of themselves as slaves to Christ?
How do i know if mine is or isn't doing this?
Why is mine not up there
Yes it would be
Wouldn't it be funny if someone jumped out of the booth??
A walk 2 remember
Not working still.
Does goat milk spoil faster than cow milk? ((VNS&DNE)<3)
Roots
Reedeming love by francine rivers
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Shack by William Young
Nicolas sparks is a good author. ((VNS&DNE)<3)
Star Wars!
The Lion, Witch , & the Wardrobe ü Chronicles of Narnia
LOTR is not an American work
all harry potter books
My sisters keeper
really? lol
The Outsiders
The stand
Turn Up The Heat
I love that movie.
Message in a bottle
To kill a mocking bird- I don't know if this is American. Ha!
Lord of the Rings
The sisterhood of the traveling pants
The cat in the hat
Breaking Dawn :Stephanie Meyer
lords of Dicsipline
The hardy boys
Nicolas sparks is a good author. ((VNS&DNE)<3)
The Notebook
Marry poppins
Old Man and the Sea
Frankenstein
My favorite author is Frank Perretti
My favorite book is The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. £@UR¤N
Reedeming love by francine rivers
TWILIGHT! By: Stephanie Meyer
tom sawyer
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
To kill a mocking bird- I don't know if this is American. Ha!
A walk 2 remember
The stand
The Godfather
Where the red fern grows
was Back to the Future based on a novel?
Frank Perretti
Twilight. ((VNS&DNE)<3)
Of mice and men
Just trying it out
This is super cool :) ((VNS&DNE)<3)
can you hear me now...
I don't read
how do i know if mine is working or not?
Of all sermons to be serious this is THE one. Stop the text joking.
bullants
Is The confederate flad offensive? £@UR¤N
All ants.
a wasp sting on your booty.
Is flying the confederate flag offensive to others? £@UR¤N
A 20 ft tall yellow jacket
a wasp sting on your booty.
ants
jellyfish sting.
fire ants!
I HATE it when bed bugs bite!!!
spidermokey
Chores are slavery! £@UR¤N
To kill a mocking bird- I don't know If this is American? Ha!
this is pretty cool. hey everyone!
this is pretty cool. hey everyone!
Does prostitution count as slavery? £@UR¤N
mine isnt working
Riding Lessons £@UR¤N
why is william sanders so old?
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks £@UR¤N
harry potter
The Scarlet letter £@UR¤N
To kill a mocking bird- I don't know If this is American. Ha!
Wait yes it did
plus your comments
Why is this not working?
harry potter books
My phones not doing this.
of mice and men is my favorite book i haven't read it though
i don't understand how to do this
my favorite book is of mice and men i haven't read it though
Marley and Me
The Pact by Jodi Picoult....anything by her is great!
i think jrr tolkien was british. i thought he said american writers.
to kill a mocking bird- I don't know I'd this is American. Ha!
Of mice and men is my favorite book i haven't read it though
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks £@UR¤N
a child called it. £@UR¤N
I don't read
i don't read
Gone with the wind
the appeal
HARRY POTTER!!!
White Fang

be like the sun

2009-06-09T08:01:00.003-05:00

I have been reading in the book of Judges this week and there is a common theme echoed throughout this ancient record. God's people disobey and God allows them to be overtaken by their enemies. Time and time again the Bible reads, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of their enemies."

It makes me wonder how they could forget their own history. And not even ancient history, but recent history. What was it that enticed them so frequently that they would forget the tyranny of their enemies? And how could they forget that Jehovah God would not change? The thing that they kept falling for was the worship of other gods. Why? Was the God who led them out of Egypt not present enough? Was the God who split the Red Sea not close enough to them? Did it seem fashionable to worship the idols of their enemies? And don't we do the same?

Those things which God wants us to be separated from are the same things that we get hung up on today. The difference is that we are not so overt. We still go to church, say our prayers, but we still have other gods. We would never bow to an idol or Baal, but we do give our hearts over to this world. God wants us to be holy. The word holy literally means separate. God wants us to be separate from the world. Different. Holy.

Judges chapter 5 records a song of the prophetess Deborah. I love the way it ends,

"Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord!
But let those who love Him be like the sun,
When it comes out in full strength."

So, be like the sun at full strength. Serve God only. Be holy.

good question #4

2009-06-02T08:47:00.003-05:00

Follow-up Question:

What if I have made a mistake previously, can I still have intimacy?

Answer:

Another good question.

You can never go back, which is to say that you will always have to live with whatever consequences that might occur because of your past. That being said, God is not as concerned with your past as He is your future. Now that you have had a change of heart, will you follow through and stay pure. That is what grace is all about. You can be forgiven even if you still live with some of the consequences of your past.

Now, knowing that you can be forgiven is not an excuse to sin. Paul addresses this in Romans 6,

"should we go on sinning so that grace can increase? By no means we died to sin, how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that anyone who has been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too can live a new life."

We can be forgiven, and that means we have a new life. So commit that new life to living for Christ, out of respect for the sacrifice that Christ made for us. To use a military analogy, if someone in your unit made a sacrifice that saved your life in combat, you would always want to honor that person by living a life worthy of that sacrifice, right? It reminds me of the movie Saving Private Ryan at the end when the old man Private Ryan is at the cemetery and asks the question whether his life had been worthy. We will never be worthy of the sacrifice that Christ made, but we should live for him out of respect and gratitude.

The most important thing to remember is that God loves you and forgives you. You cannot go back and undo what has been done, but you can move forward from here and do the right thing. It will still be very special to your future spouse if you start from this day forward and save yourself for her/him, and I'm sure that you will be glad if they do the same for you.

On a practical side, here are a few things that you could do to make things a little easier to resist temptation.

1. decide ahead of time what your boundaries are. (a good way to help decide this is to imagine that you had a daughter and ask yourself what would be too far for a boy to go with her?)
2. never put yourself in a situation where it would be easy to go too far. (never at your place alone, never at home with no one around, never in the car somewhere... you get the point.)
3. don't do anything that makes you want to do everything. (draw the line way before you think you need to)

good questions #3

2009-05-22T08:55:00.003-05:00

Question:

What can you tell me about avoiding the temptation of sex outside of marriage? I'm looking for any advice that you can offer or any tools that you can tell me about.

Answer:

Great question. Let me see if I can get this discussion started.

First, I believe that an understanding of the goal of relationships from God's perspective would be a good foundation for this discussion. God created us and he loves us and he knows what is best for us.

In the book of Genesis the Bible tells us that God created Adam and after some time had passed God looked at Adam's situation and stated that "It is not good for man to be alone." So, he made a "suitable helper" for him in the form of the first woman, Eve. God realized that man by himself was not good, so he made woman. I believe that the most healthy way for a man and woman to live is within a covenant relationship. This covenant or promise is one that is made between a man and a woman and God. This covenant relationship is what we call marriage.

I also believe that God intends for one man and one woman to live in an intimate relationship with each other for life. In our culture we have been told that intimacy is sex, while in God's eyes there is so much more to intimacy that just the physical act of sex. As a matter of fact, one of the things that sets us apart from animals is the ability to experience real intimacy, not just sex. When we have sex outside of this covenant relationship we are really just having sex, there is not true intimacy and just having sex is a sin in God's eyes. True intimacy includes covenant, trust, commitment, sacrifice, discipline along with desire, attraction, and all the things that go along with the physical side of sex. People who have sex outside of this covenant relationship think they have intimacy, but really they are just settling for sex.

Now, along with these positive reasons there are also some negative things which can motivate us to want to wait until we are married to have sex. There is the risk of physical disease, pregnancy, emotional damage, and other consequences of sex outside of the marriage covenant. From a practical sense it just makes life easier, from a spiritual sense waiting is pleasing to God and not waiting is disobedience or sin, and intimacy is better than just having sex.

I don't want you to think that this is an easy way to go, it's not, but it is a better way to go. Decide together that you choose intimacy over sex. God created these urges, but He intended them to be expressed within the marriage covenant. Choose to wait. Choose intimacy. This is God's design.

Tell me your thoughts and we can talk about some other stuff.

grace & peace.

david

good questions #2

2009-05-19T08:49:00.002-05:00

Question:

I am concerned that earlier in my life I may have blasphemed of the Holy Spirit. What is that, and is that the unpardonable sin?

Answer:

First, the passage in question is in three of the four gospels. (Mt. 12:29-32; Mk. 3:29-30; Lk. 11:221-22)

The context is an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus drives out a demon from a man who was blind and mute. The Pharisees accuse Jesus of using the power of Satan to drive out the demon from the man. Jesus casts out the demon by the power of the Spirit. But the Pharisees attribute it to the power of Satan. Thus, they call the Holy Spirit the unholy spirit.

The Pharisees were unable to accept Jesus as the Messiah, so much so that they accused Him of being under the power of Satan. Such cynicism and unbelief is motivated by a refusal to accept the evidence of God that is right before them. Essentially, their problem was a lack of faith. Without faith there can be no forgiveness of sins. The thing that is unforgivable is their willful unbelief. (see 1 Jn. 5:16 & Heb. 6:4-6)

I believe that the same is true today. Anyone who willfully chooses to disobey God and does not believe is not going to be saved. So, what about someone who walks away and then returns? The question is does that person now have faith? If so then they can be forgiven. Prodigal son. I don't believe that God cares as much where you've been as where you are. He is not as concerned as much with what you have done, but what you are doing. And that goes both ways. You can't become a christian years ago and then walk away from God and expect to be in good standing with Him at judgment, in the same way you will not be judged by what you did if you are now walking in faith.

I also found this interesting. There are a number of sins against the Holy Spirit like Rebellion (Isa. 63:10), Lying (Acts 5:3-9), Resisting (Acts 7:51), using the Spirit for Selfish Gain (Acts 8:18-22), Grieving (Eph. 4:30), Quenching (1 Thess. 5:19), Disobedience (Heb. 10:29). Blasphemy is the only of these that is unforgivable.

I will continue to think and study through this difficult passage and maybe we can get together again to discuss it.

grace & peace.

david

good questions #1

2009-05-13T07:37:00.003-05:00

Since the launch of TRC we have had a lot of interest and a lot of questions. I thought over the next few days I would post a few of the questions that have been posed to me and the response that I sent. It has been a real blessing to meet so many diverse people and get the opportunity to share the truths of the Bible with them. Some have been receptive and others have never returned, but either way I always learn and grow. Any comment to these posts will only help me respond more clearly and accurately in the future.

Question:

I wanted to know where your Church stands on Gays and Lesbians? I live in New Bern, I am gay and still believe in God to guide me and direct me in my life. My partner and I would very much like to know more about your Church and its beliefs on these issues.

Answer:

Thanks for your interest in Two Rivers Church.

The short answer to your question is that I believe God loves Gay and Lesbians as much as He loves any person in the world. My hope is that TRC will be the kind of church where people of all backgrounds, races, sexual orientations, and groups will feel loved and be able to explore their own personal relationship with God.

That being said, there is also a longer answer to your question, and one that strikes more precisely to the question I believe you are really asking which is, "Does Two Rivers Church consider same sex relationships a sin?" The answer to that question is yes. Though, I do not think that this sin is any different than anyone else's and we are all on level ground when it comes to our mistakes before God. Each moral failure, mine or yours, separates us from God because He is holy and incapable of sin. It is very difficult to convey my feelings about you or this subject through email, I would be glad to meet with you and your partner for coffee and talk more about the subject.

I love the fact that you still believe in God and look to Him for guidance, unfortunately most gay and lesbians in our culture have rejected the idea of God, probably because the church in America has done such a poor job of conveying Biblical truths in loving ways. I hope that you will come and worship with us and we can continue to discover together what God means for our lives.

Please feel free to call me anytime, my cell number is below.

grace & peace.

david

a bad day

2009-04-27T05:51:00.002-05:00

1 Samuel 4 describes a bad day. First, the Philistines rout the Israelites and capture the ark of the covenant. Then Eli's two sons Hophni and Phenehas die. A young man named Benjamite ran from the battle to tell Eli that his sons were dead. Eli was then told that not only were his two sons dead, but the ark had also been capture by the Philistines. When Eli heard this news he fell out of his chair and broke his neck. Now if that were not enough, Eli's daughter-in-law went into labor when she heard the news, gave birth to a son, named him Ichabod which means 'The glory has departed from Israel,' and then she died.

I wonder if anyone ever told Ichabod what happened on the day he was born? I wonder if it became his stigma for the rest of his life? I wonder if he could ever overcome such a bad day?

I promise not to complain when my printer doesn't work, or my sermon is not coming together, or the girls are a handful, or I shoot a ninety-five. May I always rest in God and may His glory never leave.

remember me with favor, o my God

2009-03-03T06:47:00.002-05:00

Nehemiah 11 - 13

The final chapters of the book of Nehemiah stand in contrast to each other. Chapters 11 & 12 describe those who came back to Jerusalem to live after the walls had been rebuilt. And the celebration and ceremony of the dedication of the walls. The Bible describes a very cool scene in chapter 12 when Nehemiah and the priests walk on top of the walls and dedicate this work and this wall to God. The ceremony included choirs and singing and the sound of rejoicing could be heard far away. The dedication ended at temple where tithes & offerings were brought into the storerooms

Chapter 13 is a different story. Nehemiah, true to his word goes back to work for King Artaxerxes and serves him for many years. After some time Nehemiah asks the King for permission to go back to Jerusalem. There he finds that the people had fallen away again. They had not followed the Law. They had defiled the temple. They had forgotten the Sabbath. They were living in the same way as before which lead to the destruction of the walls and the capture of the city in the first place. Nehemiah does not walk away, he begins to reign judgment on the people. At the end of this chapter, the end of these writings of Nehemiah he writes this one simple statement. "Remember me with favor, O my God."

May we live like Nehemiah, holding unswervingly to God's Word & God's will. May we be willing to speak boldly about the things that are wrong in our culture, and in our communities. And may we be like God's servant Nehemiah who relentlessly pursued what God would want for His people. And may we be remembered with favor, O God.

repentance

2009-02-27T07:08:00.002-05:00

Nehemiah chapter 10 describes what the people decided to do after they had returned to the city of Jerusalem from exile and rebuilt the walls. After a time of rejoicing over the Law being read in the city the people make some promises to God. It is very interesting the things mentioned that they decided to rededicate to the Lord.

First, they promised not to give their daughters and sons to be married to people from other nations. One of the ways that they had fallen away from God is by marrying outside of the nation of Israel. Now that they were repenting of this they were promising that they would dedicate these relationships back to God and be faithful to what God had asked them to do.

Next, they promised to keep the Sabbath rest as holy to God. They said that they would not buy merchandise or grain from neighboring peoples on the Sabbath or any other holy day. They were promising to keep these holy days as an offering to God. They would dedicate these times to God. They would work hard on six days and give to God the Sabbath to honor Him.

Finally, they promised to give to God from the first fruits of their crops and herds. They had gotten out of the practice of setting aside their tithes and offerings to God and now were repentant of this and were dedicating their possessions to God. All of what they had God was to get the best.

So, how does this apply to us? Very simple. If you want to check your dedication to God. If you want to put God first. If you have walked away from God and need to put Him first again. If you would like to continue to grow in your relationship with God then do these three things. Put God first in your Relationships, Time and Money. Where do you spend your time? With who do you spend your time? And how do you spend your money? Are you putting God first in all of these areas? If not, maybe it is time to repent - to make these things right with God.

revival

2009-02-13T06:44:00.002-05:00

Recently at Two Rivers Church we have been looking at the book of Nehemiah. We looked at Nehemiah chapters 1 - 3 on February 1st and chapters 4 - 6 this past Sunday. We will not be continuing through the rest of the book at this time, so as promised I will continue some study and give some thoughts to the rest of Nehemiah here on this blog. As a side note, it has been several months since I last blogged in this space so I hope to get back into the swing of writing here on a weekly basis.

Nehemiah chapter 6 and the first part of chapter 7 describe the finishing of the walls under the leadership of Nehemiah. It only took 52 days to complete the task. Talk about Extreme Makeover Walls Edition. I wonder if they stood out there and all yelled, "Move that bus!" The rest of chapter 7 is filled with a list of those people who had been exiled from Jerusalem and were now returning. This list is essentially the same list found in the book of Ezra.

What happens starting in chapter 8 is amazing. The people asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law and he began reading it aloud. Verse 3 says that he read it aloud from daybreak until noon, standing on a wooden platform which was made for this occasion. And here is what is amazing, the people listened and were moved. In essence what happened was a revival. All of these people who had been exiled had forgotten about the things written in the Book of the Law. They had not been practicing their traditions and ceremonies while in exile. So now having come back to Jerusalem, they listened to the words of the Law being spoken aloud by the priest Ezra and they remembered what they had been missing and it changed their hearts. In verse 6 it says that at the reading of the words the people bowed down and began to worship God.

Here are a couple of my thoughts concerning this passage. First, isn't it interesting that revival begins with the reading of the Words of God. It was not the rebuilding of the wall, or even the great return and reunion of these people that drew them back to God, it was the power of the words of God. Second, the natural outcome of this revival was worship. The people heard the words of God and fell down and worshiped Him. Amazing.

May we seek God and His word personally and corporately and may those words change our hearts and draw us back to Him. May we have revival. And may God be worshiped.

jerub-baal the great man of God

2008-11-17T09:23:00.003-05:00

Judges 6

One of the great people of the Old Testament is a guy named Gideon. He is introduced in Judges chapter 6. It seems like whenever the people of God begin to walk away from Him there arises on the scene a person who begins to bring attention to the sin of the people. Throughout the Old Testament this is true and we remember these people as great people of faith. It reminds me of Star Wars and the idea of bringing balance to the force. When the dark side would become too strong, or too aggressive a great Jedi would rise up and fight the dark side and eventually bring balance to the force. Gideon was the Luke Skywalker of his time.

Judges chapter 6 begins this way, "Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord." There seems to be a recurring theme in the Old Testament. God's chosen people regularly or time and time again would do evil. And the most common sort of evil was following other nations into idol worship. In this case the Israelites have followed the surrounding culture into worshiping an idol named BAAL. Because of this disobedience God allows the Midians to oppress the people of Israel and they finally called out to God for help. Gideon was the answer to that call to God. Gideon took some of his servants out and destroyed the altar to BAAL and sacrificed a bull to God on the rubble. And to me here is the interesting part of the story. When the people of the town saw what had happened they were angry and wanted to kill Gideon for this act. They took their anger to the leader of the town named Joash. Joash gave them this argument. "If BAAL is God then let him deal with Gideon." This seemed to appease the people and it led to them calling Gideon Jerub-Baal which means "Let BAAL contend with him."

Throughout the rest of the story of Gideon the Bible continues to call him Jerub-Baal. The nickname stuck. That's what he became known as around town and to the people of Israel. He stood up for God. His name was changed. He wore that name for the rest of his life. It wasn't exactly an endearing name, but he wore it anyway. It represented a life that was counter cultural and he lived it wherever he went. I don't think he had it printed on his license plate or had t-shirts made up, he simply lived out the name and wherever he went people knew by his name that he had stood up to BAAL, he stood for God, and he lived against the current culture of his day.

May we all wear a new name today. May that name be one that stands for our God. May we do so in spite of our culture. May we live it out in the way we go about life. I don't have to say what our new name is do I?

controversy

2008-10-29T05:44:00.002-05:00

Joshua 13 - 24

In these chapters of the book of Joshua the scripture is very specific about what clan inherits each portion of the promised land. The specifics go down to what group would inherit each portion of land and where the boundaries were for each group. Here is preserved a written verification of who gets what. This is important not only for that day, but even for today. There is nowhere in the world where land is fought over more than in this area. Even today there is controversy and war between Israel and the Arabs who live in the region. The Israeli people believe that they are entitled to this land as a part of their inheritance, but the Arab people believe that they were wrongly driven out of the land. The specifics of Joshua should be a help to the people of Israel, but because the disobeyed God and did not drive out everyone from the beginning there is still controversy about this land today.

mid-life crisis?

2008-10-22T06:30:00.002-05:00

Joshua 6-15

I've always had a little trouble with the way the people of God took over the Promised Land. Why did God want them to destroy everything and especially everyone? I've always understood the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities were extremely wicked. So God brought fire down upon them. But was Jericho and Ai and Jerusalem filled with wickedness? Why were they not given a chance to repent? Why weren't they offered a treaty?

This directive given by God is very different than the God of the New Testament. God is Love. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Where is that God in the Old Testament?

I don't think I have it all figured out, but here is my take for now. God is God. He is in control. He did not have a mid-life crisis somewhere before the New Testament was written. He is still the same God. He is still the same today. He was and is still a holy God. He is incapable of sin. He must punish sin. One of the pillars of the Law is that you should have no other gods before God. I believe that God was compelled to destroy those cities because of their idolatry. In the Old Testament dispensation there was no other way. This sin must be punished. Now since Jesus has been in the world there is hope for everyone. God will allow us to live today so that we might choose to accept the gift of His grace. I don't see any other reason why He would be so harsh in the Old Testament time and why He would be so loving now in the New Testament era. Now there is an alternative. He is still the same God, but with more options.

May I ever be aware that God is a holy God. May I ever be aware that God is a loving God.

exposed

2008-10-22T06:04:00.003-05:00

Joshua 6

Joshua chapter 6 describes how the Israelites took the city of Jericho. For six days the army of the Israelites marched around the city of Jericho in silence. I guess the people of Jericho were either scared to death or pretty smug while watching these unorthodox war tactics. If I had to choose I would say that they were smug. They were sitting behind a huge wall, just watching this army walk around their city. There were no acts of overt aggression. No taunts. Not even a pebble thrown toward their wall. Just once a day they would carry this golden box around the wall. Then on the seventh day they kept walking. Not just once around, but twice, then three times until they were on their seventh time around. Then it happened. The guys around the golden box blow their trumpets and the army shouts. And the precious wall that had been a protection began to crumble. I'll bet there were hundreds of men on the wall watching to get a good view of this odd war tactic. The army gave a shout and the wall began to fall. The people of Jericho were probably not feeling quite so smug as the wall came down. Now they are completely exposed.

There are lists and lists of things that we use to hide behind. For every person it is a little different. For some of us we think that we can stay behind our job, or family, or hobby, but those things don't define who we are to God. We can try to hide behind our intellect, our wit, or our personality, but God knows who we really are. There is no wall that can conceal us from the Living God. The bible speaks of another day when there will be a trumpet blast and a shout. On this day all of our walls will be stripped away. We will see God face to face. We will be fully exposed before him.

May we be honest with God now, not waiting until that day to be exposed. May we live in the open with our God so that we will not be ashamed or frightened to see God face to face on that day.

just passing through

2008-09-22T09:14:00.004-05:00

Deuteronomy 29

As Moses winds down his address to the people of Israel chapter 29 talks a lot about the covenants. Several times in verses 9-14 Moses references "entering into a covenant" with God. For a Jewish person this imagery was literal. This was the method of those who made covenants: they would set up a demarcation on one side and a demarcation on the other side and those entering into the covenant would "pass through" between the partitions. Jeremiah 34:18 references this "passing through" in connection with a broken covenant in which the leaders of Judah, the priests, officials and people of the land passed between the parts of a slaughtered calf. Moses addresses the people of Israel standing before him and warned them about the covenant that they were about to enter into with God.

You see in just a few days God would part the Jordan river and the Israelites would pass through the Jordan in the same way that they had passed through the Red Sea as they had escaped Egypt. God had kept his promise that he established when they "passed through" the Red Sea and he would keep this covenant which he would establish when they "passed through" the Jordan River.

Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." (1 Corinthians 11)

The new covenant is established with Jesus sacrifice. Jesus sacrifice is validated at the resurrection. Romans 6 says that at baptism we are united with Christ's death, burial and resurrection. When you split the water and "pass through" you are entering into a covenant with God. One established by Jesus death, burial and resurrection. An agreement, a new covenant entered into by faith.

Back to Deuteronomy chapter 29. Verses 23 and following describe what happens to those who abandon the covenant; "The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur - nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger."

Sounds like another place that is described as one of torture, one of burning sulfur, a lake of fire. And who will experience this place? Those who abandon the new covenant.

May we be faithful and not abandon the new covenant which was established by God through Jesus death, burial and resurrection and into which we enter into when we pass through the waters of baptism.

don't go back

2008-09-03T07:08:00.003-05:00

Deuteronomy 17

Continuing in the directions that Moses is giving the people of Israel before they take possession of the promised land, Moses gives this instruction in chapter 17.

14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," 15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again."

Moses instructions about having a king rule over Israel is interesting to me. First of all, it would be many generations before Samuel would anoint Saul as the first king to rule God's chosen people. But God knew what His people would want. He knew that they would want to be like the other nations around them. There is something about our nature that compels us to want to be like others. To fit in. To want to look like everyone else. That is still true today.

Our girls are headed out today for their first day of pre-school. So we stand on the cusp of a new chapter in their lives which includes education, socialization, personal growth, expanding their world, etc. It also includes the possibility of conformity. We don't know what kids will be in their class or what influence these kids will have on them, maybe not this year in pre-school, but soon. Sooner than we want to admit. Who will they choose as king? Will they want to be like other nations or will they choose Christ to be king in their lives?

I also like the admonition that the king should not return to Egypt, for the Lord says "You are not to go back that way again." How many of us, having been brought out of Egypt want to return. We don't remember the slavery. We don't remember the oppression. What we remember is the security and the things that the Egyptians have that we want. We have freedom but we want slavery. We have a new leader, we want to go back to that familiar Pharaoh.

May we all live as free men. May we not go back that way again.

de-clutter

2008-08-15T08:59:00.005-05:00

Deuteronomy 10

Why do we get so caught up in stuff? Most of our lives are consumed with gathering and acquiring stuff. You learn this acutely when you move. We thought we could just put our stuff in a truck and move it down to NC. Who knew we had so much stuff? We just kept bringing things out of that house. And then we got to the attic. I'm surprised our house didn't fall over with the amount of stuff we had in there.

When we were trying to get our house on the market HGTV told us we needed to de-clutter. So we took a bunch of our furniture and clothes and stuff and put it in storage. What we found is that we liked it better that way. There was more room. We didn't feel as closed in. And we never missed the stuff we had put into storage. At our new house in NC we are trying to stay clutter free. That is easier said than done. Since we moved in we have come up with a list of stuff we really "need." Why? We still have some of our junk in storage and our garage is full.

There is a passage in Deuteronomy that gives a new perspective to the stuff we accumulate. Moses is giving his final instructions before he dies and turns the leadership of Israel over to Joshua. In Chapter 10 Moses is recounting the giving of the tablets and the instructions for the ark of the covenant and the duties of the Levites. Verses 8 & 9 indicate that the Levites were to be in charge of the ark and the duties associated with ministering before the Lord and because of this they would not receive a portion of land as an inheritance when the Israelites went into the promised land. Verse 9 explains the reason, "the Lord is their inheritance." Here is the nation of Israel standing on the edge of the promised land and those who have been dedicated to the service of the Lord are given this encouragement, "You won't get an inheritance, the act of serving God will be your inheritance." Better than houses or lands or cattle or herds or servants or stuff is the fact that you have been chosen to minister before the Lord.

(Does everyone know where I am headed?)

1 Peter chapter 2 says that we are "a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Verse nine says that we have been chosen by God to serve as priests. Old Testament priests' inheritance was the honor of serving the living God. New Testament priests' inheritance is the honor of serving the living God. What stuff gets in the way of us living out our inheritance? Whatever it is... de-clutter. Rest in the all-sufficient God who led the Israelites into the promised land. De-clutter. You will like your spiritual house better that way.

God is good and moving sucks

2008-07-18T23:26:00.003-05:00

After three days of packing, cleaning, walk-throughs, home inspections, loading, unloading, driving, & dealing with buyers, sellers, realtors, storage people, uhaul folks, banks, etc. we now have four storage units in two different states and are living out of our suitcases for the next three weeks - two of which I will be in camp. Dave Willis and I used to use the word bumfuzzeled. I guess that's how we feel right now. I really thought I was going to punch a realtor in the neck yesterday while trying to close on our house in Newport News and I'm pretty sure my neighbors heard me cuss in the back yard, ("sorry" - an old Alan Woodward reference that only he, Dave Willis and I would understand)

And at the end of the day the one redeeming thing that helped us get though it all were our friends and family. Wayne played Tetris with our stuff and the back of a UHAUL, Aaron giggled everything onto the truck, Phil Murdock even showed up. (We will never get that futon back together that he took apart) My parents were great. Our neighbors were wonderful even though we were leaving. (we are really gonna miss them) And then Bonnie's folks kept the girls the whole time with a lot going on. Jason Kirkman never acted like I was losing my mind when I changed the plan 25 times on Wednesday and Thursday. Then showed up with Richard on Friday and helped us move into storage. Levi almost got divorced trying to figure a way to help us out and then Chuck Holton showed up.

One story and I might try to sleep. We have been really nervous about our girls leaving everything they know and moving. We have been breaking the news to them slowly and this week started talking about our "new" house. We took them this morning with us to the home inspection to let them see it and maybe get excited about where we are going so that when they realize that we are not going back to our "old" house things will seem better in some way. So I am outside with the inspector and the girls are running around the yard when Mary Catherine (our new neighbor) walks over and asks the girls if they would like to come over and swing with her 5 year old daughter. It was a really nice gesture and something for our girls to look forward to. I'm sure that we have a few tears ahead of us and the next few weeks will be hard living out of a suitcase, but I believe God worked out those details so that Ella and Jane would have a smoother transition.

God is good and moving sucks.

pure nard

2008-06-05T16:01:00.004-05:00

65. Matthew 26:1-16

I can remember when I was growing up a few instances when I was called out in front of everyone. I'm sure I deserved the rebuke, but I can remember the deep feeling of anger for the one who had called me out and embarrassed me in front of the class or group of friends. Have you ever had that happen? I think it happened to Judas in Matthew 26.

This is the passage where Martha (of Mary, Martha and Lazarus fame) anointed Jesus head with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. (Mark says it was pure nard, whatever that means) Matthew and Mark record that some of the disciples made a fuss about using the expensive perfume for this occasion even citing that they could have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. Mark says they rebuked Martha for this lavish expression of her love. Jesus then rebukes them and says what a wonderful thing she had done for him. What I find interesting is that the very next verse says that Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver.

The Gospel of John confirms that Judas was the instigator of the opposition to this act of love and worship. John also explains that Judas was skimming off the top of the monies that the Jesus and the disciples were living on.

I think that Judas saw the wasting of what he thought of as 'his' money and rebuked Martha. Jesus saw this and called him out. In front of everyone. 'Why are you bothering her? What she has done is beautiful.' Here is Judas, called out in front of everyone. I think this made him very angry. Maybe even hatred welled up inside him. This was the fire in his stomach that made him betray Jesus. The love of money, plus the embarrassment of being called out in front of the class equals betrayal.

May I always look into the word of God and into the character of Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to call me out when I am wrong. May the fire in my stomach be the refining fire of the Holy Spirit leading me to become a better servant of Jesus.

rebuke x 5

2008-05-22T10:58:00.003-05:00

65. Deuteronomy 1

There are a couple interesting things about the first verse of the book of Deuteronomy. First, Moses calls together all of Israel for a nationwide rebuke. He didn't call some or just the heads of the families, he speaks to all Israel. There should be no question as to who Moses is speaking to, it is everyone. Second, Moses alludes to the times when the Israelites had angered God. He names the five places where these things happened. So standing before the entire nation Moses simply mentions the places where these things had happened - no need to expound - they obviously knew the offenses they had committed and would be reminded of them by the mentioning of the places where they had happened. For our benefit here they are...

1.in the desert - he rebuked them for their having angered God in the desert by saying, “If only we had died [by the hand of God]” (Exod. 16:3).
2.opposite the red sea - He rebuked them regarding their rebellion at the Red Sea. When they arrived at the Red Sea, they said, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the desert?” (Exod. 14:11)
3.between Paran and Tofel and Lavan - he rebuked them because of the foolish things they had said about the manna, which was white, saying “And our soul loathes this light bread” (Num. 21:5), and because of what they had done in the desert of Paran through the spies.
4.at Hazeroth - Concerning the insurrection of Korach which took place in Hazeroth
5.and Di-Zahav - He rebuked them for the calf they had made as a result of their abundance of gold, as it is said: “and I gave her much silver and gold, but they made it for Baal” (Hosea 2:10).

new chapter

2008-05-15T15:41:00.004-05:00

It has been a month since I have written anything here and a lot has happened during that time for our family. Probably all six of you who read this blog know that Bonnie and I will be starting a new chapter in our lives starting in August. We have accepted the challenge to plant a church in New Bern, NC. We were not really looking to move to NC, but agreed to pray about the possibility and here we go. After a month of prayer and talking to folks about this idea God challenged us to go. Since we said, "Yes" we have met with many people and told them the news, spent a week in Orlando at the National New Church Conference, and have been trying to get our house on the market to sell. I'm sure it is still going to get worse before it gets better, but at least the ball is rolling.

With this in mind we have a couple prayer requests.

1. Pray for our house to sell in a bad market, and at a good price for us.
2. Pray for our girls as we break the news to them that we are moving.
3. Pray for the kids at Avalon that they would not check out just because we are moving.
4. Pray that God would prepare the people of New Bern to be open to this new church work.

And one request, if you know anyone in that area that might not know God or has fallen away, please send me their contact information.

Thanks!

caduceus

2008-04-04T09:25:00.003-05:00

59. Numbers 21:4-9

It surprises me how often in our culture you can find references to biblical stories or people. Here in Numbers 21 there is another. After the Israelites have left Egypt they go through many difficult times and often grumble against Moses and God. They often wish they could go back to Egypt and become slaves again. During one of these times of grumbling, God sent venomous snakes among them. The passage says that the snakes bit them and many of them died. Nice right? So the people did what all of us do when we realize that we are wrong, they begged God to help them. Moses prayed on their behalf and here is what happened:

8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

This symbol of the bronze snake on a pole has been adopted by medical professionals to indicate that hospitals and medical clinics are places where you can get healing. The symbol is called a Caduceus. When you see it, remember that its origin is in the Old Testament and that true spiritual healing is found in another symbol we often see today, the cross.

consider myself

2008-04-03T09:51:00.003-05:00

Matthew 23

Seven woes. Seven rebukes. Seven not so friendly responses to the religious leaders of Jesus day. It is easy to read through Matthew 23 and think, "Yeah, Jesus you tell them! You no good religious teachers!" But then I start to think about who are the religious teachers today. Umm, me? I wonder how many of these warnings could be applied to me or others today? Is there a parallel?

Overall theme of the chapter:

5"Everything they do is done for men to see:

Application: All leaders must check motives for the things they do.

Warning #1

13"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

Questions: Do I ever decide who should receive God's grace? Do I ever pass over someone because they don't appear to offer as much to the kingdom as someone else?

Warning #2

15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

Question: Jesus said that when a student is fully trained he will be like his teacher. Based on my faith and purity should anyone become like me?

Warning #3

16"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' 17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?

Question: Do I place the correct emphasis on spiritual things over material things? Do I get confused in thinking my preaching or singing or teaching is what makes a difference to people or is it the power of God and His word?

Warning #4

23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Question: Could I be feeling good about turbo tax red flagging what I gave to the church last year, but forget to love people and show mercy when I should?

Warning #5

25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

Question: Does my inside present well in God's eyes or am I just putting on a show for everyone else?

Warning #6

27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Question: It is not a question of whether I am a hypocrite or not; the question is in what areas am I a hypocrite?

Warning #7

29"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'

Question: Do I make myself out to be more than what I am?

My prayer is that God would help me to be humble and walk with Him everyday. May I be closer each day, more devoted each morning, more grateful each night.

fly away

2008-04-02T14:06:00.003-05:00

58. Psalm 55

I am working on getting caught up on my reading so I will try to post a few comments from wherever I am reading at the time.

Today I was reading Psalm 55 from the readings of the week of March 9th. This Psalm is a prayer of David. It is one of many laments that David writes as his soul searches for help from God. The first few verses describe the depths of David's fear and anguish at the presence of his enemies. These verses are followed by verses 6-8 which are great:

6 I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest-

7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
Selah

8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm."

I have felt this way before. I have never been chased by enemies or felt the fear of death lurking around every corner, but I have had stuff up on me to the point that I wished that I could just fly away and forget all that was below me. The great theologian Lenny Kravitz said it this way:

I wish that I could fly
Into the sky
So very high
Just like a dragonfly

I'd fly above the trees
Over the seas in all degrees
To anywhere I please

Oh I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah yeah yeah

I believe that it is a natural human reaction to adversity to want to escape from trouble. It is good to see that even David had times when he wished he could just fly away and be free from the trials of this life. Unfortunately we do not have the ability to take off and be free from life. We try to in various ways, but inevitably we must come back down and those problems are still there. I do think that we all need a little down time, a few hours a week or month where we can relax and put our problems out of our mind for awhile. But never with the intent to escape from them, but rather to clear our minds so that we can come back and face those problems with a better, clearer perspective. For me it is golf. For some it is a book or some other activity. And always with the desire to face life and with God's help overcome all of those things which make us want to escape.

Thanks King David. (and Lenny)

update

2008-04-01T14:32:00.001-05:00

I don't think anyone is reading this blog lately because I have been so long in posting, but I am working on getting caught up. I have had a lot of life stuff going on lately so that's my excuse. Look for an update tomorrow.

what's the count?

2008-03-06T11:29:00.004-05:00

51. Numbers 1-2

It is the custom of the American Church to count and keep track of the number of people who attend each church. Many churches are known for the number of people who attend, and in some cases they are known more for this number than for the witness for God that they are to the community. Because of this focus on numbers there are some who would argue that numbers are not what is important, rather the condition of the hearts of those who attend church. (These are undoubtedly the churches with fewer numbers) So what is the answer? To count or not to count, that is the question.

Bamidbar is a Hebrew word, which is the fifth word of the Book of Numbers, it means "In the wilderness". The Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Tanach is called Bamidbar. While the Hebrew Tanach begins by focusing on the place where the Hebrews are when the book is written, Jewish scholars who study the Torah take note of God counting his people in the book of Numbers.

Because they were dear to Him, He counted them often. When they left Egypt, He counted them (Exod. 12:37); when [many] fell because [of the sin] of the golden calf, He counted them to know the number of the survivors (Exod. 32:28); when He came to cause His Divine Presence to rest among them, He counted them. On the first of Nissan (the Hebrew month in which the Passover falls), the Mishkan (the Tabranacle) was erected, and on the first of Iyar, He counted them.

It is interesting that the Jewish writer points out that God counted them because "they were dear to him." It reminds me of when Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep. God cares about each one in his flock. He cares about numbers insofar as those numbers represent those who are dear to him.

So if we count to make ourselves look good, we are probably wrong. If we count so that we can keep track of those who are dear to God, then we are probably right. May we love people and keep track of them with the most sincere hearts and with pure motives for these people are dear to God.

the world waking up

2008-03-05T15:32:00.003-05:00

50. Matthew 21:12-22

For the last several days it has been pretty warm here in Virginia. I love Spring in Virginia. The cherry trees bloom first then the dogwoods and azaleas. People come outside more often. It is my favorite time of year. I like Fall, but I love the Spring.

One of the things I love about Spring is the celebration of Easter. Yesterday and today our reading in Matthew began the Passion week. Jesus enters Jerusalem in the same way that a conquering king would and the people fall all over themselves to show him honor. Jesus immediately goes to the Temple and stirs things up. He turns over the money changers tables and calls them thieves. This gets the attention of the religious teachers who were probably skimming from the profits of the money lenders. The final week of Jesus life before the crucifixion is filled with confrontation with these Jewish leaders.

Reading these passages is like waking up to the flowers of a dogwood tree outside our bedroom window. It is like getting out to cut the grass for the first time of the year. Easter is coming, Spring is on its way. Out with the old, cold winter and in with the new growth of Spring. Is there any question that God planned Jesus death, burial and resurrection to happen in the Spring? I guess it is not Spring everywhere in the world, but for us, thank-you God.

the name

2008-03-04T08:44:00.003-05:00

49. Leviticus 24 & 25

We use words flippantly in our culture. We say we believe in free speech and use this mantra to excuse certain language. You can read on bathroom walls profanity that would make a grown man blush. We turn on our televisions and invite into our homes language that is inappropriate and coarse. We go to the movies and pay someone to curse at us in surround sound. Even the video games that we play for amusement uses language that we would not endorse, except that we celebrate the birth of Jesus by wrapping these games up and giving them to our children. All in all our culture is overloaded with words. There is absolutely nothing that is off limits. Nothing.

In Hebrew culture things were different. In Leviticus 24 Moses relates a story about the son of an Israelite woman. The text says that this son "blasphemed the Name with a curse." Interesting. Even in retelling the story Moses could not even mention the name of God. Throughout the Old Testament the writers took out the vowels when writing God's name. YHWH. This is what we have translated God, or Jehovah, or Yawheh into English. Moses couldn't even write it. The son of this woman was accused of blasphemy because he said "the Name." God then commanded the whole assembly to take this son out and stone him. The entire community was responsible for his punishment. He was put to death because of his words. Because he mentioned the Name of God.

May we be careful about what we say, and may we as a community be responsible for changing our culture.

you are a priest

2008-03-03T18:33:00.004-05:00

48. Leviticus 21-23

Throughout the book of Levitcus God describes to Moses how the priests should be cleansed, dressed, atoned, etc, etc. Many of the descriptions are for the duties of the priests and their interaction with the Hebrew people. Chapter 21 describes rules specifically for the priests themeselves. The priests could not shave their heads or the edges of their beards. They could not cut their bodies. They must not marry certain women who were defiled by prostitution, or had been divorced. And throughout this chapter the reason God gives to Moses for these regulations is because the priests are "to be considered holy, because I the Lord am holy -- I who make you holy."

Now let's fast forward to the New Testament. 1 Peter 2 reads:

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Now look at the first verses of 1 Peter and see who Peter is writing to:

1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Here is what Peter is saying... Jesus is the high priest and you are set apart as priests also. You see when Jesus shed his blood he was not only the sacrifice, but also the priest who offered the sacrifice on our behalf. Now we can become a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.

Are you with me? Do you think that God still has rules for His priests? Shouldn't we be living like priests? Shouldn't we be holy? According to Leviticus priests should be considered holy, "because I the Lord am holy -- I who make you holy." Right? Here's how Peter says it:

13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

vayikra

2008-02-27T15:48:00.003-05:00

44. Leviticus 11-13

In the past I have struggled through the books of Leviticus and Numbers when I have been reading through the Old Testament. And even this time I have not made any comments about this book. I guess it is the attention to detail that sorta wears me out reading through the specifics of the Law that God gives to Moses and the children of Israel. I also have not commented because I have really never done much study on this book, so I don't have a lot to say, but I am going to try and bring a little insight when I can from a few things that I have learned lately.

The word Leviticus is a Greek word which means "relating to the Levites." Which makes sense because the entire book is devoted to the works of the Jewish Priests or Levites. If you were to read this book in Hebrew the title would not be Leviticus it would be "Vayikra." Vayikra is a Hebrew word, which is the first word of the book of Leviticus. It means "And He called."

Leviticus chapter one begins, "The Lord called to Moses." Vayikra, "And He called." Each time God calls Moses, He calls him by name. In Hebrew writing and culture to call someone by name was a sign of affection. It is the same expression employed by the ministering angels when addressing each other, as it says, “And one called to the other…” (Isa. 6:3). Moses is God's man. Even though he made excuses and he made mistakes (killing an Egyptian slave master for one) God still has affection for him. So this is how the book of Leviticus begins, with God affectionately calling His servant Moses. Vayikra.

psalm 40

2008-02-26T11:18:00.002-05:00

Anyone ever hear this at the end of a U2 concert?

gone fishing

2008-02-25T16:50:00.005-05:00

42. Matthew 17:14-27

This morning before I left the house, Bonnie and I were talking about bills and money and this discussion turned into a conversation about doing our taxes. I'll have to admit that for the last few years, Bonnie has taken care of our taxes. Neither of us really want to do what it takes to sit down and figure out all this stuff so we usually keep putting it off, not until the last minute, but longer than we should. Which reminds me of years ago when David Willis and I would make an event out of going down to the Post Office on the night of April 15th, just so we could watch people try to get their taxes done and mailed on time. Every year some poor soul would show up just after midnight and would bang on the door, but to no avail. They were going to pay a late fee.

Jesus has an interesting way of paying his taxes in Matthew 17. First, Jesus makes the point that the kings of earth do not collect taxes from their sons, so the Son of God should not have to pay the Temple Tax. But not to offend, Jesus sends Peter out fishing with these instructions, "Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

So tomorrow, I'm taking the day off. Tell everyone I've 'gone fishing.' Hey, you never know!

oh, by the way

2008-02-21T16:29:00.002-05:00

39. Acts 22

One of my favorite chapters in the New Testament. There are many reasons I like this chapter, but mostly because it highlights one of my favorite Biblical characters, the apostle Paul. In the previous chapters is the account of Paul saying good-bye to many of the elders and leaders in some of the churches that he had started, many of these good-byes included tears. Paul was a compassionate man who knew what his job was and ultimately he knew that he would one day die for the cause of the gospel. So Paul against the wishes of many of these friends goes back to Jerusalem and sure enough the people there are ready to kill him. There is such a riot over Paul that the Romans had to intervene so that Paul would not be killed on the spot. As they are taking Paul to prison, he asks if he could address the crowd. First of all, if it were me I would just be glad to have escaped the clutches of the crowd. Second, I don't think I would even think to address the crowd which was already worked up, I would rather spend time building my case which I might be able to present to the roman authorities. Not Paul. He seizes the opportunity to tell the gospel once again. And he tells his story so eloquently, with passion, without compromise. And once again the crowd begins to boil. There is nothing that the Romans hated more was for the Jews to squabble between themselves, so they take Paul away in chains intending to have him flogged when Paul nonchalantly mentions, "Did you know you are about to flog a Roman citizen?" Oh, by the way, I wouldn't do that if I were you.

Oh, that we could muster up enough courage just to live even one hour of each day the way the apostle Paul lived his entire christian life. Amazing.

honeybuns and sour milk

2008-02-20T16:56:00.006-05:00

36. Exodus 30, 31

A dozen years ago I was working with a bunch of students in Newport News who had put together a student led Bible study group at their school. The group was comprised of students from many different churches and backgrounds. The kid who was asked to lead the group was one of the kids from our youth group and he asked me to help him with the lessons he was putting together. Marty did a nice job teaching, but did get into some controversy when the lessons had to do with the details of becoming a christian. The controversy led to a meeting between one of the other student's and his dad. I went along to help Marty defend the Biblical position on salvation and to make sure they didn't gang up on him too much.

So we get there and begin this discussion about how one becomes a christian. Marty used scriptures to explain that the Bible teaches us that we are saved by grace, through faith, at baptism, for good works. (Ephesians 2, Acts 2, Romans 6, etc.) The response from this other kid's dad was classic. He told this story about how he used to be strung out on drugs and alcohol and one day as he was coming down from a night of binge drinking and drug use he had an encounter with God. So far I'm listening and glad to hear that this guy is seeing the error of his ways and sounds like he is searching for the only real remedy to the predicament that he has gotten himself into with these addictions and whatever other sins he might be guilty of. The guy goes on to say that he then finds a stale honeybun and some sour milk which he uses for a makeshift communion service during which he receives Jesus as his Savior and assures us that he is saved. He concludes his "come to Jesus" story with a stern rebuke for me saying that we should not limit how people might become Christians by teaching there is a certain way (biblical or not) that one becomes a Christian. "Everyone has their own path," I believe is what he was saying.

Now I am not God, which is quite obvious to anyone who knows me. And I do not presume to be the final authority of who gets into heaven and who does not. That job is one I do not want. Here is my point. For more than ten chapters in Exodus God gives Moses extreme details about how to set up the tabernacle and the other items associated with the priestly duties. And what do all these things have in common? They are all connected with the process for redemption for the people of Israel. They all have to do with atonement. From the ark of the covenant to the way that the priests were to wash before they could be annointed, God gives very specific details about how these things should happen and very specific details of what happens to those who do not follow these regulations. So according to my honeybun and milk friend, this God has changed his character. Now it doesn't matter. Redemption is based on each one's own path. God's annointed ones can make the decisions about how they become annointed. I'm not buying it. God is still God, he does not change. There are still specifics about redemption that we need to be very careful to follow or we could be in danger of death, spiritual death.

naked and bleeding

2008-02-19T16:44:00.003-05:00

34. Acts 19:1-22

There is a story in Acts 19 that I have read before, but didn't remember until I read it again today. It is sort of a funny story, but has a serious application. Paul is travelling through Asia and is teaching and healing people, he has become so powerful in the Spirit that people would take hankerchiefs and clothing that had touched Paul and touch the sick with them and the sick would be healed. Around this time some Jews were going around driving out demons by invoking the name of Jesus and the name of Paul. These guys came across a demon posesses man and tried this when the demon inside the man said, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then it says that the demon posessed man jumped on them, all seven of them and overpowered them. The text says that he gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

The funny part is them running out of the house naked and bleeding. The serious part is the fact that our enemy is real and powerful. We serve a God who is greater, but do not be confused, the enemy is ready for a fight. May we continue to follow and serve our God, and may we ever be aware that the enemey is not to be underestimated.

the tabernacle

2008-02-19T11:51:00.006-05:00

From our reading last week, here are a few pictures of a scale model of the tabernacle and some of the items described in Exodus 21 - 29.

the tabernacle

tabernacle outer court

tabernacle tent fabric

the ark of the covenant

the altar

the tabernacle from a distance

take a dip

2008-02-15T11:09:00.003-05:00

32. Acts 18:18-28

Paul leaves Corinth and is headed for Ephusus and then Antioch. Verse 24 tells of a Jewish believer named Apollos who was teaching about Jesus accurately except he was hung up on one point, baptism. The text says that he knew only of the baptism of John. So a christian couple, Pricilla and Aquila, took him aside and "explained to him the way of God more adequately." Apollos was still teaching and baptizing in the same way that John, the forerunner, had taught. So what does it matter? Baptism is not that important is it? Isn't it just a good thing to do? Not according to Acts 18 and 19. It was important enough that Pricilla and Aquila needed to correct Apollos and in chapter 19 Paul actually baptizes some disciples "into the name of Jesus Christ," when they had already had the baptism of John.

In the Christian world today there is more division over baptism than just about any other teaching in the New Testament. One church says one thing another says something else. One says it is not important, another says it is essential. So what are we to believe? The simple answer is, believe the Bible. It was important enough to the early church that some believers needed to be straightened out concerning this teaching. Throughout the book of Acts people who were old enough to believe when told about Jesus and his sacrifice were immediately baptized (which in the Greek means to dip, plunge or immerse) for the forgiveness of sins. John's baptism was to signify repentance. Baptism after the church started (Acts 2) was a connection to Jesus and was always accompanied with the forgiveness of sins. Romans 6 explains that when you are baptized you die are buried and then raised to new life. There is a literal connection to Christ's death, burial and resurrection. I believe this is what we must take from the Bible, not any other baptism will satisfy the scriptural accout. As we continue to read through the book of Acts let's see if this pattern holds true.

By the way, the thief on the cross was saved because Jesus says he was saved. There also would be no way for the thief to have been united with Jesus death, burial and ressurection since Jesus had not died yet. The thief is pre-church era just like all those others in the Gospels that Jesus told, "your sins are forgiven." If the thief were going to be baptized at this time, before the church was established, he probably would have been baptized by John's baptism for repentance, but like Apollos he too would have needed to be taught about Christian baptism after the beginning of the church.

where's my boy?

2008-02-13T16:31:00.003-05:00

31. Matthew 12:38-50

This passage is another example of just how serious and on point Jesus was as he was out teaching and leading his disciples. Jesus, in verses 46-50, is teaching and the Bible records that his mother and brothers stood outside and wanted to talk to him. I have been in a few situations where I was speaking or leading worship and unannounced my parents showed up to support me. My reaction was always one of pleasant surprise. I was honored that my folks would make the effort to come and hear their boy. Not Jesus. He is all business. Not that he is unhappy to see his family, but he is so focused on his task that he cannot pull himself away to speak to his mother. Jesus is full of passion, devotion, commitment to task. He even says, "Here are my mother and my brothers. (speaking of his disciples) For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." We would be tempted to think, "OK, Jesus, lighten up." But there was no waver in Jesus, no room for idleness, he was completely on point all the time. The mission was too valuable, the time too short, the work to overwhelming to take a break. The same is true for us today, yet we are often flippant, arrogant, and wasteful of time and devtion.

Oh, that we would be willing to deny everything and follow Jesus.

buyer's remorse

2008-02-12T15:52:00.001-05:00

30. Exodus 13-15

The entire story of Moses and Pharoah is crazy to me. Here is an entire nation, living within another nation. They are described in the reading as 600,000 men plus women and children. So more than a million people, roughly the same number of people that live in all of Hampton Roads, are wanting to leave their company and move on to another job in another state. Not only that but they worked for nothing, literally. I see why it was so hard for Pharoah to let them go, I mean the temp agency just wouldn't have a million brick makers hanging around their office waiting for a job. Talk about losing your competitive edge. God knows this so He sets up this scenerio where Pharoah would get so sick of the sight of Moses, Aaron and the entire nation of Isreal that he finially tells them to go. I mean it takes blood, frogs, gnats, flies, dead animals, boils, hail, locust, darkness and the death of everyone's firstborn sons, but Pharoah is ready to flip his lid. "OK, OK, Please Just LEAVE!"

So they do, and then he gets cold feet. Ever get buyer's remorse? Just about everytime I buy something, even if it is something I really wanted, like a 42" plasma, I get it home and think, "Did I really need this?" Then I feel a little guilty and eventually I get over it but for awhile, remorse. Pharoah gets freedom remorse. He had to be thinking, "This was such a bad idea, why did I let them go?" So he gathers his army and chases them into the Red Sea. You would think that he might have thought about what God had just done in Egypt that led to the release of the Isrealites, but he follows them right into a trap. I wonder what kind of remorse he was experiencing when he and his army looked up and saw that the walls of water on each side of them were collapsing. I'll bet he would have settled for the boils, instead he just bought the entire Red Sea.

fred 08

2008-02-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

Sorry I have been absent the last few days. Our family is still working its way through the cold/flu. Ella has it now, I am just getting over it and I'm afraid Bonnie is next. A few prayers would be appreciated.

I saw a funny bumper sticker today. The sticker was red and blue around the edges and oval (like the obx stickers maybe you've seen) and the center was silver with the words "Fred '08." It took me a minute to even remember who the "Fred" was in the '08 election, so I googled it to jog my memory. Fred Thompson. Ah, that's right, wasn't he an actor? It was funny to me that someone put that sticker on their car. It wasn't even on the bumper, it was on the paint. And I'm pretty sure that it was a sticker, not one of those magnetic things you can take off. This guy is committed to "Fred '08." Unfortunately Fred was done, way before this election even started.

As I read through the gospel of Matthew I am often surprised at how many people were following Jesus. I mean without TV or newspapers or even the internet, there were frequently thousands of people showing up to see Jesus. I don't know how many people can fit in Indian River High School, but I'll bet Bill Clinton packed that place today, and he didn't even serve lunch. I believe that Jesus was surrounded by thousands of people much of the time. And these people were looking for a new candidate, a candidate of change. Right? They were sick of the old government (Rome) and high taxes, and oppression, so they wanted something else. Jesus at least gave them lunch. But I'll bet when Jesus was executed many of them were wondering, "How do I get this bumper sticker off my donkey?"

So here's the thing, 2,000 years later I still see Jesus bumper stickers. <>< I see them all the time. And guess what, this candidate never goes out.

so relieved

2008-02-05T16:05:00.000-05:00

26. Acts 15:22-41

I have always been nervous when someone says, "Let's get together, there's something we need to talk about." I think it goes back to my childhood when I would often get a letter sent home or a conference with my teachers because of my behavior. I was never really a bad kid, I just liked to cut up a lot. Sorta the class clown I guess. (I know that is hard to imagine) I can remember walking home with my report card or even worse a letter from my teacher. It was like bringing home your death sentance. See my parents are from the 'old school.' From the first day of kindergarten the rule at our house was, 'if you get in trouble at school, you are going to be in a lot more trouble when you get home.' Those were the longest walks home ever.

Acts chapter 15 describes a controversy that had arisen in the church in the city of Antioch. There were some Jewish descended christians who were teaching that everyone who became a christian must also be circumcised. Luckily for these non-Jewish believers Paul and Barnabas disagreed and set off to Jerusalem to discuss this with the apostles and elders. I don't know how long it would take to make this journey, but I'll bet for the non-Jewish believers it was like the long walk home with a bad report card. So the apostles and elders met, made a decision and wrote a letter to be taken back to the church in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas brought the letter back to Antioch. I can imagine the anticipation when they arrived and told them that there was a letter. I'll bet Paul and Barnabas didn't let on as to what the decision was either, so that they could hear it directly from the apostles' letter.

It probably took awhile to gather everyone together.

Then open the scroll.

Finially read the decision.

Here it is:

Abstain from foods sacrificed to idols. Abstain from blood. Abstain from the meat of strangled animals. Abstain from sexual immorality. Avoid these things. (These are all things associated with pagan rituals)

"That's it?" they are thinking. No circumcision?

I'll bet they were so relieved.

could this have become too familiar?

2008-02-04T13:29:00.000-05:00

25. Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is recognized as one of the great pieces of literature in all the world. It really is a beautiful passage. It is one of those well known passages that can get overlooked because it is familiar.

My encouragement for us today is to spend a few minutes meditating upon this passage allowing God to make these wonderful words new to us today.

polarized

2008-02-02T16:01:00.000-05:00

24. Matthew 9:27-38

Yesterday I was hanging out with a very good friend and he gave me this nice pair of sunglasses. It was one of those like, "dude these are nice and I just lost the best pair of sunglasses I ever had." (not that the ones I lost were that nice, I just had them for awhile and I had gotten used to them) So, later he says, "hey just keep those sunglasses." Then I feel bad cause I didn't mean for him to give them to me, but they are nice and I do like them. And here's the thing, he told me they are good because they are polarized. I don't even know what that means, but when you put them on there is no glare, just nice. So thanks Jero!

It is nice to see things better. When I was reading today's passage I was thinking about those sunglasses. Jesus had the ability to see things as they really are, without distortion, without glare. Verse 36 says, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." When I see people I don't always see them undistored. I see imperfections. I see flaws. I see them the way I want to see them. I don't see them the way Jesus did. Jesus had the ability to see people as souls. Deeper. Must have been those spiritually polarized lenses he was wearing.

prince of peace

2008-01-30T10:21:00.000-05:00

21. Matthew 8:23-34

In the history of the NFL there have been many quarterbacks who have been known to come through in the clutch. Dan Marino, John Elway, Tom Brady, Rodger Stabauch, Joe Theisman have all led their teams to victory with a game winning drive in the final minutes of games. But no one is more famous for being calm under pressure than Joe Montana.

For example here is an excerpt from a column on ESPN.com by Larry Schwartz describing the demeanor of Montana:

He possessed an almost mystical calmness in the midst of chaos, especially with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. While others saw turmoil and danger after the snap, Montana saw order and opportunity. He was Joe Cool, the unflappable king of the comeback.
Take the 1989 Super Bowl against the Cincinnati Bengals. The San Francisco 49ers were down by three points with 3:20 left when Montana spotted -- no, not an open receiver -- but a personality. "There, in the stands, standing near the exit ramp," Montana said to tackle Harris Barton. "Isn't that John Candy?" And then he led the 49ers 92 yards, throwing for the winning touchdown with 34 seconds left. This was one of Montana's 31 fourth-quarters comeback in the NFL.

I like to think that I am cool under pressure, but not like Montana. I do posses the ability to make decisions with 35 students asking questions and parents on the phone in the middle of a youth ministry event, with everyone waiting while my computer goes haywire, but there are no 300 lb linemen trying to break my legs.

While Montana was arguably the best NFL quarterback under pressure ever, even he might have cracked under the circumstances Jesus endures in Matthew chapter 8. After a full day of dealing with crowds, healing sick people, and even turning people away Jesus and His disciples finally get into a boat for a relaxing sail. Exhausted, Jesus falls asleep. He is awakened by His frantic friends. "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" Have you ever been awaken by something or someone frantic? I have and it makes me frantic. If my children wake up in the middle of the night sick, Bonnie jumps into action and my heart is racing and I'm confused and rattled. Not Jesus, awaken from sleep He rebukes His disciples, then rebukes the wind and waves. And then peace. Calm. I can almost see Jesus immediately laying back down with a 'Don't wake me again for something silly!' look on his face, then falling back to sleep.

In the midst of trouble, calm. When the storms arise, peace. When all looks bad, serenity. I am not so cool under pressure, but it sure is reassuring to look across the huddle and see my quarterback, Jesus, in complete control.

first importance

2008-01-29T12:01:00.000-05:00

20. Matthew 8:14-22

What do you have to do today? Most of us get up, get ready for work, say good-bye to our families. We get to work, look at our to-do list, prioritize our tasks. We say hello to our co-workers. Maybe there is a big presentation or project to do. Maybe there are a hundred things that must be done this week to keep you on pace with your job's requirements. Maybe for you there is a test, or paper to write. Maybe you have signed up for a club or sports team and there is practice today. Maybe there is a big game this week.

It could be that things are in a little more downward place for you. You found out that a relative is sick, or worse you could be preparing for a funeral. Maybe you are reeling from the end of a relationship. Maybe you drove to work today wondering if you should stay married, if it is really worth it. If you are like me then you are wondering why your wife just won't understand the importance of 42 inches of plasma high-definition.

With all these things going on have we done the one thing that must be accomplished today? The one thing that we must do everyday? Have you followed Jesus today? Let me make it more personal. Have I counted the cost of being a disciple of Christ? May I follow and walk with Jesus today as a matter of first importance. Today and every day.

zaphenath-paneah

2008-01-28T22:40:00.001-05:00

19. Genesis 41

Have you ever noticed that when God changes someone's circumstances or gives them a new direction He changes their name? It happened to Abram who became Abraham after God promised him a son and a blessing. It happened to Sarai when she too was blessed with this promised son and she became Sarah. It happened to Jacob after he wrestled with God he was given a blessing and a new name, Israel. And it happened to Joseph after he was rescued from the prisons of Egypt the Pharaoh gave him the Egyptian name Zaphenath-Paneah and put him in charge of preparations for the looming famine.

It also happened in the New Testament. Saul, the Jewish zealot became Paul the apostle some time after his conversion to Christianity. Time and time again when God changes someone's circumstances or gives them a new direction He changes their name.

I was given the name David by my parents when I was born, but when I was baptized at the age of nine my name was changed. My circumstance was changed, I was given a new direction and God changed my name. God calls me by my new name, Christian, or like-Christ.

interesting

2008-01-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

16. Acts 9:20-43

There are a couple interesting things in this passage to me.

First is Barnabas. Here is a guy who takes a chance on someone. Saul, who is the same guy that approved the stoning of Stephen a couple chapters back, has now become a Christian. As you can imagine the Christians in that area are skeptical of trusting Saul for fear that he could be trying to trick them and put them into prison or worse. At one point Saul had to be lowered in a basket over the wall around the city of Damascus so that the Jews would not kill him. Saul is caught in the middle. The Jews are after him to kill him because he is preaching about Jesus and the Christians are scared to help him for fear of his previous reputation. So, in steps Barnabas. Barnabas takes Saul and brought him to the apostles, tells them his story, and convinces them that he is legit. I wonder what would have happened to Saul if Barnabas had not stood up for him. Remember that Barnabas was mentioned in Acts 4 as one who sold some property and gave the money to the Church. And his name means 'Son of Encouragement.' Nice name. Matches his heart. My name would probably mean something like 'Son of Skepticism.' I would like to be more like Barnabas, more encouraging, more open to what God is doing. When is the last time I took a chance on someone?

The second thing that strikes me in this passage is a simple phrase about a woman named Dorcus. The text simply says, "In Joppa there was a woman named Dorcus who was always doing good and helping the poor." I think it is interesting that Luke connects 'doing good' with 'helping the poor.' There are tons of things that could have come next, but the one thing he mentions in association with doing good is helping the poor. Not helping her family. Not cooking for church dinners. Not being a youth sponsor. Not driving the carpool. Not being a cub scout leader. Not volunteering at the nursing home. Not adopting a highway. There is only one thing mentioned in association with doing good and that is helping the poor.

Interesting.

even when it hurts

2008-01-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

15. Psalm 15

Our society these days seems to have a difficult time keeping its word. Nowhere is it more evident than in the arena of politics. It seems like every candidate changes his or her mind on a regular basis not based on conviction, but on what is most likely to win more votes. Along with that is the insistence that they have not changed. I think it would be refreshing to have a candidate who could admit that they have changed their mind, that they see things differently, and can admit when they have made a mistake.

But before we go too far in condemning politicians we should do a little self-evaluation. Do we ever go back on our word? Am I guilty of telling my girls that I will be home to tuck them in and then allow something else to preempt that promise? Do I always fulfill my oath to Bonnie to love, cherish and keep her as long as we both shall live? Am I guilty of breaking my word to God when I choose to disobey Him? I guess before I ride into town on my high-horse I should consider where I need to get down from that horse and onto my knees and in humility ask God to forgive me where I have broken my promises to Him, to my family, and to others.

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He who keeps his oath even when it hurts. Psalm 15:1&4b

120 years

2008-01-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

This week a couple people have asked me about a passage from Genesis 6, so I though it would be good to go back and post concerning this passage.

The end of Genesis 5 introduces us to Noah and chapter 6 begins the story of Noah, his family and the flood. The chapter begins with this passage:

1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

The question that was posed to me this week was about the 120 years mentioned in verse 3, but to understand that let's get a little insight into the first part of this passage. There are a lot of different ideas about who the sons of God and the daughters of men are. I believe that the more traditional Hebrew rabbinical view of this passage makes the most sense. The Hebrew Tanach text translates the phrase sons of God as sons of nobles. A Jewish person reading this text would recognize the daughters who were beautiful or from the Tenach text daughters who were beautifying themselves as ones who were adorned to enter the marriage canopy or chuppah. (HOO-pah)

A chuppah is a canopy traditionally used in Jewish weddings. It consists of a cloth or sheet stretched or supported over four poles, and is sometimes carried by attendants to the ceremony's location. A chuppah symbolizes the home the couple will build together.

So it was becoming common for the sons of nobles to force their way into wedding preparations and have relations with a bride as she was getting ready for her wedding. It reminds me of the beginning of the movie Braveheart where the English soldiers would demand that every bride spend her wedding night with the captain of the guards. Mel Gibson's character refused to go along and his bride was killed, starting the Scottish revolution and eventually ending England's tyranny. (that's the movie version, I don't know if that is historically accurate) I can't think of a more offensive thing that could happen to a bride, a groom and their families during the celebration of their wedding. Verse 5 says:

The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

Our text goes on to say that God is fed up with such behavior and predicts that the time is coming when He will no longer contend with men. In other words He is saying, "Your days are numbered!"

So the question then is how many days until God keeps His promise? Answer: "his days will be a hundred and twenty years." What is going to happen in 120 years? Answer: 120 years until the flood. 120 years until God will no longer put up with such irreverent and godless people. 120 years until God will destroy everyone on earth except for Noah and his family. Why Noah? Because "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God." (see earlier post "walk this way")

the real deal

2008-01-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

13. Acts 8:1-25

A over a decade ago, when I was much younger, I would frequently go out to a local playground and play basketball in the warm months. Sometimes if the day was really nice there would be close to a hundred guys out playing at these courts and it could take an hour or more just waiting to play. It was like this one day when I went out and after watching for more than an hour I picked up on who were some of the better players. These guys were big and fast and could jump out of the gym, if we had actually been in one. There was a lot of talking and a few nose to nose confrontations maybe a couple shoves here and there, all in all a very typical day on the playground. There were a couple guys who were sorta controlling things either because they were very good players or could talk louder than anyone else. Their teams kept playing uncontested until this one guy showed up.

The first thing I noticed is that this guy didn't wait to play, when he walked up someone just walked off the court and let him take their spot. This guy was not very tall, maybe 6'0" or 6'1" at the most, but the first time he touched the ball he came right down the lane and over several much bigger guys dunked the ball with two hands. Now I was curious, "Who is this guy?" "Bubba-chuck." That's what they kept calling him. "Bubba-chuck." I still don't know what that means exactly, but I did finally realize that this guy was Allen Iverson. I even played on the same team with "Bubba-chuck." Later I realized that I could have been an NBA player because I was able to do the same things as his teammates in the NBA which is pass him the ball and watch him shoot. Anyway, ever since that day I have been an Iverson fan. I mean seeing him in person I realized that there are some people who pretend to be good and then there is the real deal. Believe me Iverson, whether you like him or not, is the real deal.

Acts chapter 8 has a similar cast. Simon the Sorcerer was well known in Samaria for his amazing magic tricks. He even had some people convinced that he had some divine power. Until the real deal showed up. Philip the evangelist came through town and did some real miracles. Philip displayed the power of God to the people of Samaria. For the first time these people witnessed the real deal and they were amazed. And they never looked at Simon the same again. It is hard to be impressed with a pretty good magician when you see the true power of God.

May we not be impressed with the two-bit hucksters that our culture elevates, but only with the true power of God.

Daily reading for the week of: January 20

2008-01-21T10:59:00.000-05:00

13. Matthew 5:33–48
Acts 8:1–25
Psalm 13
Genesis 31

14. Matthew 6:1–15
Acts 8:26–40
Psalm 14
Genesis 32, 33

15. Matthew 6:16–24
Acts 9:1–19
Psalm 15
Genesis 34, 35

16. Matthew 6:25–34
Acts 9:20–43
Psalm 16
Genesis 36

17. Matthew 7:1–14
Acts 10:1–23
Psalm 17
Genesis 37, 38

18. Matthew 7:15–29
Acts 10:24–48
Psalm 18:1–24
Genesis 39, 40

new format

2008-01-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

I changed the format of this space. It seemed a little hard to read the other way. Not that anyone was reading this except for Bonnie when I made her look at it.

If you are looking at this, make a comment so I will know whether anyone is reading this. Thanks.

blackout

2008-01-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

11. Matthew 5:13-20; Acts 7:1-38

During the early 40's my grandparents moved to Newport News, Virginia. Like many people from rural North Carolina my grandfather took a job at the Newport News Shipyard where he studied in the Shipyard apprentice school and learned the trade of welding. Having lived in Newport News for over a decade, I love to hear how different things were a half-century ago here on the Virginia Peninsula. My grandparents tell how they rented a room from a nice couple down on Huntington Avenue near the Shipyard and it was during this time that my grandmother became pregnant with her first child, my mother. My grandmother tells how she would spend her day at home keeping house while my grandfather went to work. But on December 7, 1941 everything changed. That Sunday morning Japanese war planes attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor.

All of a sudden the world changed for all Americans. This one act by the Japanese pulled 'the sleeping giant' into WWII. Very soon after that my grandparents went back home to Pike Road, NC. In Newport News the city prepared for war. There were practice air raid drills and blackouts. Europe was used to the drills, but this was new for the U.S.

In Britain for example, the British government imposed a total blackout during the war. Every person had to make sure they did not provide any lights that would give any clues to German pilots that they were passing over cities. All houses had to use thick black curtains or blackout paint to stop any light from showing through their windows. Shop keepers not only had to blackout their windows, but also had to provide means for customers to enter and leave without showing any light.

Jesus in Matthew 5 describes what it means to be a Christ-follower by using this imagery. He says, "a city on a hill cannot be hidden." Stephen in Acts 7 is an example of a shining light in this world as he is interrogated before the religious teachers. I wonder how many of us are living like Stephen and how many of us are living in 'blackout' conditions in this world. Afraid that we might be noticed. Afraid the enemy might see our position. Afraid of the consequences that might happen if we let our light shine. We'll see tomorrow what consequences befall Stephen, so before we get too gung-ho we must also consider the outcome if we do choose to let our light shine.

happy

2008-01-17T11:57:00.000-05:00

10. Matthew 5:1-12

Matthew chapter five begins Jesus 'Sermon on the Mount.' Jesus seeing the crowds following him goes up on the side of a mountain, sits down and begins to teach. He starts with a series of sorta-encouraging proverbs that we call the 'Beatitudes.' I say sorta-encouraging because they include terms like 'poor' and 'mourn,' 'meek' and 'hunger.' The word translated 'blessed' in most english translations is the Greek word makarios which means 'fortunate' or 'lucky' or even 'happy.' Happy to be poor, meek, mourning and hungry? The end of this passage Jesus even says that we should be makarios, or happy when we are persecuted. Why? Because we are then in good company. Like those great prophets from the Old Testament.

We should be happy when we face trials, and persecution because through them we are connected to those great prophets who endured the same in the name of God. Happy because we can walk the same soil as these holy forefathers. Happy to be a part of and connected to this same kingdom. Happy.

mitzvah

2008-01-16T14:36:00.000-05:00

9. Genesis 24

Verses 1-4 says:

Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."

"Put your hand under my thigh." What? That sounds more like a 70's dance move than a biblical reference, but there it is in black and white. So, I did a little research.

We know from the rest of the passage that this was some sort of oath. Abraham was asking his servant to promise to go and find his only son Isaac a wife, not from the Canaanites, but from Abraham's own family and from Abraham's own country. When someone is asked to take an oath typically they put their hand on something sacred. The Jewish custom was similar to our custom of putting our hand on the Bible and swearing an oath to tell the truth. The Jewish oath would be taken while putting one's hand on a Torah scroll or small black leather cubes containing parchment scrolls inscribed with the Shema and other biblical passages called Tefflin. The placing of one's hand on a man's thigh was essentially the same in the Jewish community. What they were saying is, "I swear on mitzvah" that I am telling the truth. Mitzvah which literally means "commandment" was the name for the 613 Divine commandments given in the Torah, or first 5 books of the Old Testament. The word mitzvah stems from the root tzavta, which means attachment. These commandments were intended to form a bond or attachment between God who gave the commandments and the ones who obeyed them. The first of these commandments was given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17, it is the Covenant of Circumcision. To the man who had fulfilled this commandment, one that was fulfilled with pain, it was sacred and meaningful. So Abraham asks his trusted servant, one who was in charge of all he had, to swear on mitzvah and to put his hand on Abraham's thigh close to the place where that first, painful, sacred, meaningful and spiritual command was fulfilled through circumcision. This was to bring to the attention of the servant just how serious Abraham was about what he was asking him to do. This was not a do you think you could try to, maybe, if it's not too much trouble type asking. Rather a deeply meaningful request which asked for the deepest commitment from this servant.

Verse 9 reads:

So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

So he agrees. He swears on mitzvah. The most holy commitment to fulfill his master's wishes.

May we relish the attachment to our God and His commands, the mitzvah between creator and creation, the bond between us and our God.

how majestic

2008-01-15T10:56:00.001-05:00

8. Psalm 8

Last night as I was making my way home, I crossed the James River on the M&M bridge. As I looked to the west over the river there was a fantastic sunset just about to close out the day. I guess everyone feels this way about where they live, but I have a real affinity for this part of eastern Virginia.

I love the Atlantic ocean on a warm day in June. I love the azaleas and the blooming Japanese cherry trees in early spring. I love that the whole area shuts down when we get a couple inches of snow. I love the crisp air and colors of leaves in the fall. I love to leave the window open in the spring so I can see the Dogwood blooms as I wake up. I love when it is time to clean off the porch so we can have dinner there. I love when I have to bundle up just to go out and start my car. I love to smell the river when I go out on a summer night. I love to hear the birds sing and the squirrels playing. I love to smell the burning of a fireplace during the cold days of winter. I love to see a carrier coming home to Hampton Roads. I love to play golf until eight o'clock in July. But the thing I love the most is seeing the sun setting over the James River. Every time I see or hear or smell the things of this creation my heart sings this Psalm:

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!"

be aware - keep your eyes open

2008-01-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

7. Matthew 4:1-11

Just after Jesus' baptism signifying the beginning of his public ministry and just before he begins to preach and call his disciples, he has this encounter with the devil. Finding Jesus in a weakened state after fasting for forty days the devil tempts Jesus to abuse the power he has to take care of his own needs. He is first tempted to relieve his hunger by turning stones into bread. Second, he is tempted to show his power by jumping off the highest point of the temple for all to see. And thirdly he is tempted to worship one other than God by bowing down to the devil. Each time Jesus is tempted he rebukes Satan by quoting the word of God. 1 John chapter 2 describes the ways that we are tempted in this world.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world --- the lust of the flesh, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does --- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17

There is a parallel between 1 John 2 and the temptation of Jesus. 1. Turn these stones into bread. (lust of the flesh) 2. Show your power to these people. (the boastful pride of life) 3. Look at these kingdoms I can give you. (lust of the eyes) The same categories of temptation happened in the garden to Eve as well. 1. Satan says, "did God really say, 'you must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (boastful pride of life) 2. Satan says, "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil." (lust of the flesh to be like God) 3. Then she saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye. (lust of the eyes)

Make no mistake that the devil knows how to tempt. He knows what makes us tick. He knows to attack us through the things we desire the most, the lust of the flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the boasting of what we have and do. I also think it is interesting that Satan chose to tempt Jesus just as he was beginning his ministry. So we too should expect to be tempted just as we are about to do great things for God.

May we guard our hearts and our eyes from lust and pride as we do the will of God in this world.

Daily reading for the week of: January 13

2008-01-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

7. Matthew 4:1–11
Acts 4:23–37
Psalm 7
Genesis 18—20

8. Matthew 4:12–17
Acts 5:1–16
Psalm 8
Genesis 21—23

9. Matthew 4:18–25
Acts 5:17–42
Psalm 9
Genesis 24

10. Matthew 5:1–12
Acts 6
Psalm 10
Genesis 25, 26

11. Matthew 5:13–20
Acts 7:1–38
Psalm 11
Genesis 27, 28

12. Matthew 5:21–32
Acts 7:39–60
Psalm 12
Genesis 29, 30

Daily reading for the week of: January 6

2008-01-14T11:31:00.000-05:00

1. Matthew 1:1–17
Acts 1:1–11
Psalm 1
Genesis 1, 2

2. Matthew 1:18–25
Acts 1:12–26
Psalm 2
Genesis 3, 4

3. Matthew 2:1–12
Acts 2:1–21
Psalm 3
Genesis 5—8

4. Matthew 2:13–23
Acts 2:22–47
Psalm 4
Genesis 9—11

5. Matthew 3:1–12
Acts 3
Psalm 5
Genesis 12—14

6. Matthew 3:13–17
Acts 4:1–22
Psalm 6
Genesis 15—17

walk this way

2008-01-10T21:22:00.000-05:00

4. Genesis 5-8

Chapter 5 verse 24 reads,

"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."

What a great verse. Its one of those verses that you sorta do a double-take when you read it. First of all, I love the idea of Enoch 'walking with God.' Have you ever walked with someone who was smaller than you? Sometimes Bonnie gives me a hard time because I have the tendency to pull the girls along when we are walking somewhere. I'm walking normal grown-up size steps and the girls are running and still being pulled along. I wonder if God ever feels like that with most of us. We rarely walk in step with God, He always has to change His cadence to match us. I think, and this is my inference, that with Enoch God finally found one who walked with Him naturally. I think that God enjoyed it so much that He decided to have Enoch with Him all the time and took him to be with Him. The verse says that 'he was no more.' What a way to go. He didn't stop breathing. He wasn't hit by a chariot. He wasn't eaten by a wildebeest. No sickness. No pain. He just 'was no more.' Because he walked with God. Because he was in step with God.

May we all walk with God and everyday may we cause God to change His steps less.

confirmation

2008-01-09T18:10:00.000-05:00

2. Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph has always amazed me. He comes home one day and finds out that his fiance is pregnant. Most guys would go ballistic. Most of us would want to expose Mary to public disgrace. I mean he knew that he was not the father, but his girl was going to have a baby, someone's baby. Matthew 1:19 says that because Joseph was a righteous man he had in mind to divorce her quietly and did not want to expose her to public disgrace. We would take our case to Maury Povich or Jerry Springer. Not Joseph. He was righteous. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. The next verse says that God appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him Mary's side of the story; that the baby conceived in her was from God. Confirmation.

Do you think Joseph ever doubted? Do you think Joseph ever wondered if he just imagined that dream? How long did it take Joseph until he was really comfortable with the situation? Luke chapter 2 says that Caesar issued a decree that a census should be taken and everyone was to travel to the town where their family was from. Any Jewish person would know that prophecy had predicted the Messiah would be born in the town of David. Bethlehem. I wonder at what point Joseph made the connection that this baby would be born in the town where it was predicted that the Messiah would be born. Whenever the lightbulb went off. Confirmation.

Confirmation, one of the nuances of God's grace which brings peace.

like a willow

2008-01-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

1. Psalm 1

Our first day of readings includes a great encouragement from Psalms. The psalmist contrasts the person who walks with the wicked and stands in the way of sinners and sits in the seat of mockers with the one who delights in the law of the Lord and spends time in that Law everyday. The person who spends time in the Word of God is like a tree planted by streams of water. The wicked are blown around like the dead part of plants when the wind blows.

People who know a lot about plants and trees know that there are certain trees that cannot be planted in certain areas. I really like weeping willow trees, you know the ones that droop over to the ground? They are beautiful. The experts say that you shouldn't plant those near your home because their root system will dig down into the ground and into your septic system and plumbing. So the only place they should be planted is near the edge of a lake or stream where they can grow their roots down toward the body of water. Their root system naturally seeks out water with veracity so intense that it will mess up plumbing, break up sidewalks, or anything to get to water.

May God give us the same intensity for Him and His word this year as we dig down into this living water. Like a willow.

2008 Bible Reading

2008-01-06T15:31:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are looking for the Bible reading plan. I will be using the weekly Bible readings from the Lookout periodical. http://www.lookoutmag.com/ I will be using the 2007 plan until they update the dates, but it is essentially the same for this year just off by a day. http://www.lookoutmag.com/pdfs/BRP_2007.pdf

I will post comments everyday from one of the scriptures and if some of you will post back, then we will have a great year of reading and discussing the scriptures together. And there is some accountablility for me if there is someone going through this with me.

I will be trying to post something everyday so keep checking back.

e.s.a.u. thread two

2007-12-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

Post comments, discussion points, and thoughts as you read through this book. From this thread our nightly discussion will be fashioned.

e.s.a.u. thread one

2007-12-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

Post comments, discussion points, and thoughts as you read through this book. From this thread our nightly discussion will be fashioned.

robinson crusoe - despair

2007-11-28T13:14:00.001-05:00

After being castaway upon an uninhabited island Robinson finds himself in despair considering the hopelessness of his situation. Alone on a deserted island with no apparent escape in sight. The following excerpt is from chapter six...

"I had a dismal prospect of my condition, for as I was not cast away upon that island without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm quite out of the course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz. some hundreds of leagues out of the ordinary course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason to consider it as a determination of heaven, that in this desolate place, and in this desolate manner I should end my life; the tears would run plentifully down my face when I made these reflections, and sometimes I would expostulate with my self, why providence should thus compleatly ruine its creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help abandon'd, so entirely depress'd, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life."

I find that Mr. Defoe's portrayal of someone lonely and in despair is very realistic. Robinson infers from his situation that he was driven to this island by God himself as some sort of punishment. He accuses God as to why He would "ruin" someone in such a manner. Miserable, abandoned, depressed Robinson lashes out at God for putting him in such a predicament.

Isn't that just like us? Don't we blame God for situations that we have caused? When things are going well we take the credit, but when things are not so good we quickly blame God, not ourselves for where we are. Ever been miserable? Ever felt abandoned? Ever been depressed? Who do we blame for our state? Typically others and often God. And if we are honest we can all admit that we have been "deserted" in our lives. And if we have then surely others have as well. Does God steer our ship into destruction leaving us wrecked? Or do we make the decisions that place us in despair then simply accuse God? Honestly we live in a world full of misery, abandonment and depression. Learning how to cope with these situations is a part of making our way through this life. Helping others as they traverse this life is part of our Christian life.

May we know with certainty that there is a God and He is able and willing to help us and sustain us and guide us through this life even if we accuse Him of our despair.

robinson crusoe - repentance

2007-11-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

I finished reading Robinson Crusoe a few weeks back and would like to share some of the ideas and thoughts that came out of reading this classic piece of literature. By the way, when I say I finished "reading" this book what I really mean is I finished "listening" to the mp3 version of this book which I downloaded for free from librivox.org. This is a very cool website where you can download a ton of audio books which are in the 'public domain' for free. There are some of the great classic books of literature available and you can even volunteer to be a reader.

The first chapter of Robinson Crusoe entitled "Robinson's Family—His Elopement from His Parents" begins with a dialog between Robinson and his father. Here Robinson's father tries to talk him out of 'going to sea' and leaving the family. He reasons that there are those in the world who have gone to sea and attained great fortunes and those who have gone to sea and become men of desperate fortunes and that the position in life where you can be the most satisfied is on neither extreme, but somewhere in the middle. Eventually and against his father's wishes Robinson left home for a life at sea. The decision to leave was one that he would never be able to get back and one often lamented throughout his life.

Chapter two entitled "First Adventures at Sea—Experience of a Maritime Life— Voyage to Guinea" describes Robinson's first adventure at sea which was not a good one.

"Never any young aventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. the ship was no sooner gotten out of the humber, but the wind began to blow, and the winds' to rise in a most frightful manner; and as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly sick in body, and terrify'd in my mind: I began now seriously to reflect upon what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of heaven for my wicked leaving my father's house, and abandoning my duty; all the good counsel of my parents, my father's tears and my mother's entreaties came now fresh into my mind, and my conscience, which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has been since, reproach'd me with the contempt of advice, and the breach of my duty to god and my father."

Robinson found himself in a life and death situation where he vowed that if he could be saved from this predicament he would go directly back to his home and live there the rest of his days. Unfortunately this was not to be, for after another storm and a sunken ship Robinson has this discourse with himself.

"As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts; and it immediately occurr'd to me how I should be laugh'd at among the neighbours, and should be asham'd to see, not my father and mother only, but even every body else; from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases, viz. That they are not asham'd to sin, and yet are asham'd to repent; not asham'd of the action for which they ought justly to be esteem'd fools, but are asham'd of the returning, which only can make them be esteem'd wise men."

And here is the lesson that is pulled from the first part of this book and so eloquently spoken by Daniel Defoe. Many times we are not ashamed to sin, but are ashamed to repent. We are not ashamed of the actions that are foolish, but are ashamed to admit that we have made a mistake. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." The creator of the universe who knows us better than we know ourselves is willing to forgive if we will admit our faults, yet we let pride keep us from repenting and changing our lives.

May we see that God loves us and is willing to forgive, if we are willing to repent.

mexico 2007

2007-07-11T12:03:00.000-05:00

Saturday, April 7, 2007 twelve of us from Avalon boarded an airplane at Norfolk International Airport and amidst snow showers took off; our destination, Mexico. At about 5:00 pm Central Time we touched the ground in Laredo, Texas. To our surprise it was freezing in south Texas. The team made a short visit to Wal-Mart to pick up a few last necessities and I went looking for a blanket. After a bite to eat we crossed the boarder into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. According to Wikipedia, the city of Nuevo Laredo is the northernmost city in the state of Tamaulipas, and lies at the extreme northwestern tip of its narrow strip of land along the Río Grande. The 2005 census population of the city was 348,387.

While the weather was unseasonably cool, the reception we received from our Mexican brothers and sisters was extremely warm. We spent the night with one of the local churches and attended an Easter sunrise service to celebrate the resurrection the next morning. The worship time was energetic and inspiring and two hours and in Spanish. Our team leader Rich Lemel from R.O.C. Ministries (http://www.bright-web.com/ROC/main.html) later told us that Mexican worship services always last two hours. We recognized a few hymns and shared communion and understood a few “Jesus Christo’s” during the sermon and all in all felt blessed to have the opportunity to worship God with our Mexican brothers and sisters. To our surprise the ladies of the congregation had prepared a meal for us to share following the service so we all experienced a real Mexican feast. We spent the rest of the day Sunday driving to our destination for the week, Monclova, located in the Mexican state of Coahuila.

We crossed part of the Sierra Madre Mountains and arrived in Monclova, population 198,819. (What a bumpy ride.) The church where we would be working for the week is located just outside the city of Monclova in a new neighborhood that was being developed for people to come to the area to find work. Now when I say developed, I don’t mean there were contractors paving roads and building houses, rather this colony consists of makeshift houses some with running water and some with indoor toilets, but mostly not. Our project for the week was to help put some of the finishing touches on a clinic that was built as a part of the church property to be an outreach to the community. This community which is very poor will be extremely blessed to have a medical facility so close and Avalon had a small part in making this a reality.

The rest of the week the team worked very hard to complete the many tasks that we were asked to accomplish. By the time we left, the clinic was very close to completion. There were only a few more projects that remained.

I was blown away by the Christians we met in Mexico; in particular the preachers and their families that we met were wonderful. I’ll tell one story. One day after we had finished working I was sitting on the porch of the preacher’s house (which, by the way, he and his wife had moved out of for the week so we could have a place to cook and eat, and where the ladies from our group could sleep) and the local preacher Miguel was talking to a man from the neighborhood. I do not speak much Spanish (“no mas concretó” is about all I learned) but, I could tell that Miguel was talking to the man about Jesus. It was beautiful. To hear the message of Jesus being told to this man was what it is all about. And I don’t mean that’s what this trip was all about, but that’s what this life is all about. “For God so loved the world… ”

camp rudolph worship video update

2007-07-09T16:58:00.000-05:00

I am still working on posting the videos from camp rudolph last week. I am out of town in Kentucky with Middle School students - so I might be able to get it done this week, if not first part of next week.

Keep checking back. The video is pretty cool. Now I've got to figure out how to post it.

Look down a couple posts to see my top-ten reasons that soccer is not a sport.`

losing sight of God (part 2)

2007-02-14T16:58:00.000-05:00

Don't you think that if we could really see God as He is that it would change everything? If you think about it our view of God is very confined by this world that we live in. We are human, God is divine. We are bound by time, God is eternal. We are dimensional, God is spiritual. We are held in place, God is everywhere. We have limited knowledge, God is all-knowing. We see and live the here and now, God dwells in the always. Everything that we are is at least influenced if not defined by the earthly context that we live in. It is really hard for us as humans, existing in flesh, within this carnal world to see and understand God who is spirit and dwells in a spiritual realm. But if we could - wouldn't that change everything? Or maybe, if we would - couldn't that change everything?

I don't think that we would sin as much. I think we would be more concerned with the things that God is concerned with. I don't think we would get as hung up on money and status and promotions and houses and all these earthly things. (all the things that we can't take with us when we leave this dimension) I think we would spend more time relating to people, all people. Not just those who are convenient or we're expected to care about. I think we would work harder to see to it that everyone gets a chance to hear about God. I think we would be nicer. I think there would be a number of things that wouldn't matter to us anymore. The right clothes, the right hairstyle, the right car, the right image, the right house on the right street, none of these would matter if we see them in contrast to the magnificence of God Almighty. I think we would see our existence here a lot differently. We would live with more purpose, more passion, more fortitude, and more conviction.

So what's the problem? Is our vision too impeded by the overwhelmingly human/earthly existence? Is it possible to really see God?

2 Corinthians 4:4 reads;

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

I believe that this scripture contains not only the problem, but also the solution. I concede that it is difficult to see God in this earthly realm. Additionally God's adversary Satan has "blinded the minds of unbelievers." There is a real problem to overcome in this world, but there is also a real solution. Paul goes on to say, "so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Unbelievers have a hard time seeing God in this place, and I am convinced that even Christians lose sight of who God is from time to time, but we need to look no further than the person of Jesus "who is the image of God." If we want to clear the fog from our view of the eternal God we have that opportunity; we must look at Jesus. If we want to see God, really see God in the context of this world, we must look into the eyes of Jesus. The more we know about Jesus, the more we know about God.

losing sight of God (part 1)

2007-02-14T13:12:00.000-05:00

I have been working on formulating a thought for several years. (I am a little slow) I know that I haven't fully developed it and I certainly do not think I have any answers to the questions this thought brings about, but I do think it is something that is worth thinking about.

So here it is, I believe it is possible that the Church in our culture has lost sight of who God is. I believe the Church in America today sees God through a different lens than previous generations and differently than those in other cultures today. Is it possible that we have Americanized our view of God to the extent that what we see is fundamentally different than the God of the Bible? And what would be the result of not seeing God the way He really is? Statistics from a Barna Group study indicate that over the past ten years not one county in the United States has increased in church attendance. That's alarming. Are we worshipping the one true God, or have we shaped God into a comfortable form which doesn't mess up our lives? I'm not sure the answer to these questions, but I do know that this problem is not specific to us.

The Old Testament shows us many examples of those who should know God, but somehow lost sight of Him. Numbers 14 records the Israelites grumbling against God because of the reports they had gotten from the scouts who went over into the promised land and reported it to be a land full of fertile ground, a land that "flowed with milk and honey," but also people who were strong.

"That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, 'If only we had died in Egypt! Or in the desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?'"

These people should be acutely aware of God and who He is and what He is capable of, but somehow they lost sight of Him. Did they forget where they had come from? Did they forget that God promised to their ancestor Abraham that he and his descendants would be blessed? That Abraham had been given a son in his old age and that this son Issac was the father of Jacob and Esau? What about how Jacob had tricked Esau into giving up the blessing of his father? And how after Issac blessed him Jacob wrestled with God and God changed his name to Israel. Israel had twelve sons whose descendants later became the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. These are the same tribes who in Numbers 14 are grumbling against God. These sons of Israel sold one of the brothers to some merchants who in turn sold Joseph to Potipher an Egyptian. Had they forgotten that God blessed Joseph to the degree that he became ruler of all of Egypt, second only to Pharoah? And how years later after the rulers of Egypt had forgotten what Joseph had done for them they put the Israelites into slavery in Egypt. So God raised up a leader named Moses who confronted Pharoah and demanded he let the Israelites go. Had they forgotten the plagues God sent on Egypt? Had they forgotten the parting of the Red Sea and the victory God provided there againt the armies of Egypt? Could they have forgotten the way God led them through the wilderness? How God provided food everyday from nowhere? Could they not see the cloud during the day and the fire at night that went before them? After all this, here they stand on the banks of the Jordan River, looking over into the land that God had promised and they still doubt. They lost sight of Him. They only could see the present. They lost sight of their own history and didn't have enough faith to see their future. And are we any different?

Why do we struggle? Why do we question? Why can't we see things the way they really are?

We lose sight of God and who He is.

All powerful.
Ever present.
Knowing everything.
God.
Creator of the universe.
Giver of life.
Provider.
Holy.
God.
Merciful.
Full of grace.
Love.
God.

top ten

2007-01-15T12:35:00.001-05:00

TOP TEN REASONS WHY SOCCER IS NOT A SPORT…

10. It is possible to play an entire game and not have to touch the ball.

9. There is no playbook.

8. Everyone gets a trophy just for playing.

7. No huddles.

6. Game ends in a 2 – 2 tie and everyone is o.k. with it.

5. It is the same as ice hockey without the ice.

4. Game ends in a 0 – 0 tie and everyone calls it a great game.

3. Because they only show highlights on ESPN every four years.

2. There is no reason to run that much unless someone is chasing you.

1. Two words: Soccer Mom.

death road

2007-01-15T12:29:00.000-05:00

A few nights ago Bonnie and I were watching a program on the Discovery Channel concerning “The World’s Most Dangerous Road.” This road known around the world as “The Death Road” is located in Bolivia, South America, winding through the Andean Mountains connecting the cities of La Paz and Coroico. Leaving La Paz, the world’s highest capital city at just under 4,000m above sea level, the road climbs up another 1000m into the mountains. It then plunges down through rainforest to the green plains and farm land some 3,200m below. The road was built by Paraguayan prisoners of war back in the 1930s. Many of them perished in the effort. Now it is mainly Bolivians who die on the road in their thousands. Every year it is estimated 200 to 300 people die on a stretch of road less than 50 miles long. In one year alone, 25 vehicles plunged off the road and into the ravine. That is one every two weeks. The roadside is littered with plain wooden crosses in remembrance of the people who perish each year. Cars, buses and bikes have all plummeted off the road whether through bad weather, bad driving or natural hazards such as waterfalls that propels vehicles down the side of the mountain. The Bolivian government has been working on a safer highway that would save many lives, but after millions of dollars and 20 years the end is still not in sight. “The Death Road” has become a world renowned attraction for the country of Bolivia. Some companies set up biking adventure tours for thrill seekers to come and ride “The Death Road.”

This road in Bolivia reminds me of another road that is known throughout the world as the “Via Dolorosa” which is Latin for “Way of Grief.” The “Via Dolorosa” is a street in old Jerusalem traditionally held to be the path that Jesus walked on his way to his crucifixion. People from all over the world make their way to this street to see the place that our Savior walked, to possibly put their feet on the same stones that Jesus touched a couple thousand years ago on his way to “Golgotha.” The bible tells us that “Golgotha” means place of the skull and history tells us that this hill outside of Jerusalem is where many were crucified including Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus came to this place willingly, but he was not seeking a thrill. Jesus walked the “Way of Grief” because of love, because of mercy, because of me. After a night of false accusations and drummed up charges, Jesus, beaten, mocked and forced to carry his own cross made his way down the “Via Dolorosa.” While we could compare this road to “The Death Road” in Bolivia, I would rather think of it as “The Life Road.” It is true that at the end of this road was death for Jesus, but there was life for me. Like “The Death Road” there is a wooden cross on this road, but this cross is the cross of Calvary. Jesus death, this sacrifice opened another road for me and you. This road leads to life everlasting.

basketball

2007-01-04T16:52:00.000-05:00

A couple nights ago I took my daughters to their first high school basketball game. My girls are almost three, I have a buddy who coaches the varsity team at one of the local high schools and Bonnie needed a break, so I figured it was time. I loaded them in the old station wagon and headed for the gym. When we got there I had a terrible time finding a parking place. As we approached the ticket gate it was obvious that I was getting myself into something. The lobby to the gym where they were selling tickets was packed. There was a lot of confusion as if they weren't really expecting this many people either. Luckily I was pushing through the mob when my buddy's wife happened to show up and somehow she gets me through the crowd and the metal detector and into the gym. As we round the corner and look into the gym, I notice two things, the first quarter is mostly over, and there isn't a seat in the house. It's standing room only. So I followed Tara and her daughter (who is also three) and the five of us sat in the seats that her father-in-law had saved for her and her daughter.

So at least we have a seat and I finally look around a little to see what's happening. You know when you are in the middle of a situation where you are a little out of sorts and you are trying to figure out what to do, you get tunnel vision. Well I knew the place was full, but now that I was in a seat I realized that this place is FULL. It was like all these individuals had packed themselves into this place and become one entity. The crowd. The place was pulsing with humanity. And there is nothing more alive than a crowd, especially a crowd of mostly high schoolers. It was loud. It was hot. I could feel the humidity of breath and sweat. It was close. It was frenetic. It was my girls first basketball game. The entire first half they sat and watched. I thought any minute one of them would lose it and we would have to leave. But they watched the scene with eyes open. I wasn't sure what they thought of it until the next day Ella asked Bonnie, "Do you remember when we watched the boys chase the man with the whistle?" I never thought of basketball in those terms, but it has been a long time since I was three.

We make it through the first half and things seem to relax a little. The people around us got up and the deck got shuffled and we somehow got enough room that the girls could stand up and even eat a few Cheerios. The second half began with my buddy's team losing by five or six. I knew that his team was pretty good this year from an article I had read in the paper a few weeks back. What I didn't know is that this game was against one of the other top schools in the district from across town. This is why the place was packed. It had been a long time since I had been to a high school basketball game and it made it even more fun knowing that my friend was the coach right in the middle of the whole thing. The second half went back and forth and the crowd didn't back down at all. Really the crowd seemed to get worse. About mid-way through the fourth quarter I noticed the home team cheerleaders were out in the middle of the floor during a time-out directing a cheer to the opposing cheerleaders. I couldn't make out the words, but from the crowd's reaction they were taunting the opposing school. During the next time-out one of the visitor's cheerleaders began doing back hand springs down the length of the gym which was followed by three of the home team's cheerleaders doing the same on the other side of the gym to the delight of both schools spirited fans. I played basketball in high school so maybe I was just oblivious to what the cheerleaders did, but I don't remember this type of exchange, ever. Plus there was never a crowd at any of our games since we were pretty rotten. All this just adds to intensity of the crowd. The game went down to the wire with my buddy's team making a comeback in the last two minutes and winning the game.

The game ends. The home team wins. The fans are happy. We say our good-byes and thank-yous and exit the building. On the way back to the car one of the home team cheerleaders is explaining the game to her dad who had come to pick her up. I overheard her telling him the highlights of the game. She told him about how she and the other cheerleaders had done a certain cheer and how they had put the opposing team's cheerleaders in their place and the crowd went wild. I mean she was excited about the game. She literally bounded and jumped and cheered her way all the way to her car. That was the game she saw. You know everyone there saw the same game, but they each saw a different game. I saw my friend's team come from behind and win a significant game in the district. His wife saw her husband's team play well for their coach. The parents saw their sons win or lose as the case may be. And Ella saw a bunch of boys chasing the man with the whistle. It was the same game, but many different perspectives. To the cheerleader "the game" was between cheer leading squads. That was the most important thing that happened in there. Ask any player and they are probably clueless as to what happened between the cheering squads. I don't think it is wrong for us all to see it differently. Each of us has a little different reality.

I think the point of this story is this. We should be alright with other's reality. As a matter of fact, maybe we should take the time to notice and find out what those other realities are. Maybe we could make a bigger impact in the world if we could see what others see. The homeless. The poor. The brokenhearted. The outcasts. We all live in the same world. We all breathe the same air. But we don't all share the same reality.

prove it

2007-01-02T14:34:00.000-05:00

I was talking to a friend recently and we were discussing our devotion to God and the way we sometimes take advantage of God. It's incredible, here is God and He loves us unconditionally. The God who spoke into existence everything and He loves me. No strings attached, no rules, no expectations, He just loves me. The apostle Paul says it this way:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

Sometimes we get hung up trying to convince God that He should love us, but the fact is no matter what we do, good or bad, God will still love us. So here's what I do, I take advantage of God. I do the things that oppose God or don't do the things that would please God knowing that His love for me will not change.

I'll try to put this in human terms. Let's say you are dating someone and they like you a lot and you like them. And let's say that the relationship continues to grow and eventually you and this person fall in love. You are so in love. Perhaps you even get married. And maybe you get to the point where that person loves you so much that even if you made some mistakes it wouldn't really matter, they would still continue to love you. So eventually you begin to realize that no matter what you did this person still loves you. Little by little you test that love. It is small things at first, but eventually you find yourself cheating on them. Here you are married and having an adulterous affair. It is awful. You would be taking advantage of the one who loves you so much. I am amazed to find out that there have been couples who have stayed together after such a situation. I even know of a family who stayed together after one of them had a child with someone else outside of their marriage. Isn't that what we do to God? We agree to start a relationship with Him and we continually realize how much he loves us. But eventually we get to the point where we know that He loves us unconditionally and we slowly take advantage of God. Maybe we never have an outright rebellion, but subtly we take advantage of God.

So what does this mean for my devotion to God? I want to do right. I want to reciprocate God's love. I want to stop taking advantage of God. In my marriage I choose everyday whether I will do the things to make my wife happy. I don't do those things to earn her love, I know she loves me. It is not to prove to her my love, she knows I love her. Really whether I demonstrate my love to my wife or not is mostly about whether I want to humble myself before her, and do the things that make her happy. Do I want to put her needs and wants before my own? When our relationship is clicking it is because we both work hard at serving each other. We are not trying to earn each other's love, really we are simply living out the love we have for each other. I don't devote myself to God because I am trying to earn God's love, or because I need to prove it, but I simply need to live out the love I have for Him.

running, abraham, and johnny cash

2006-12-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

This morning I got up early to run, since yesterday I ate the entire Christmas turkey, and I was running through my wife's hometown listening to Johnny Cash and thinking about Abraham. (I know, odd combination)

So as I was running I came to this decision, I am like Abraham in some ways. Not in the "Great Man of Faith" ways, but in other ways. Not in the "Faith Hall of Fame" ways, (Hebrews 11) but in the "not quite there" ways. Here's what I was thinking. God calls Abraham and asks him to move away from his family and go where He wants him to go. God also promises that He will bless Abraham and make him prosperous. He says He will make Abraham's family grow, give him land and God tells him that through his family the entire world would be blessed. So Abraham does what God wants him to do and lives by God's commands and he becomes very rich. (in sheep and goats and things like that) And after many years Abraham and his wife Sarah still don't have any children. So Abraham starts to question God. Not an overt, defiant, inquisition, but just wanting to know how God is going to keep His promise in this, situation.

This is me. I question God when things don't go the way I think they should go. I am a classic over-thinker. Let me try to explain the depths of my neurosis. If I go somewhere and it is not like I thought it should be or not the way I have pictured in my head, then I am disappointed. If I get up to speak and for some reason the room is set up differently than I imagined it to be it throws me off a little. I don't think I am psychotic, but maybe a little neurotic. There are things about God that I believe with all of me, yet I still question how God decides to work those things out. Why would anyone in their right mind question an all-powerful God? Abraham did.

Not only did Abraham question God, but he tried to take things into his own hands. Sarah is not getting pregnant so Abraham decides that the thing to do is take Sarah's maidservant, Hagar, as his wife and see if she could give him a son and thus fulfill the promise that God had made to him. Now in that day and time people took many wives and it seems like God was alright with that early on, but the heir to a family was always the firstborn son of the original union of husband and wife. So by taking another wife Abraham was saying to God, "I'll take things into my own hands." Here's my question, isn't this God's promise? Why does Abraham think he must figure out how to make God's promise come true?

This is me. I have this insatiable desire to work things out. I will think about and plan and try to execute all sorts of ideas that seem to me to be the way to go, but I have a hard time allowing God to just show me His way. Isaiah 40:31 says,

"Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

God says, "Just wait." I push ahead. God says, "Put your hope in me." I run my own way and become tired. God says, "Trust me." And I walk by my own direction and get weak. Why can't I just trust God and wait?

So I'm out running and listening to Johnny Cash and thinking about Abraham and how I am like him. Abraham finally waits for God and is given the son of promise, Issac. Later Abraham demonstrates extreme amounts of faith, and I wonder what was the turning point for him? When did he decide to let God take care of God's promises? What turned Abraham into a man with such great faith? And if there is this something that changed Abraham, can I have some? Maybe there is still time for me to become who God wants me to be.

uprising, by erwin mcmannus

2006-12-23T06:59:00.000-05:00

Excerpt from Uprising, by Erwin McMannus:

"Several years ago I was mesmerized by the amazing talent of a classical pianist named Chris Crossan. After playing a wide spectrum of music, spanning from Beethoven to Bach to the Beatles, he invited an admiring student to come up and play. The student seemed a bit off balance by the invitation. It wasn't that he was timid before audiences; it was that he didn't know how to play the piano. But Chris insisted, almost as if missing the most important part of the information. Chris kept emphasizing he was free to play anything he wanted. Again the student, in somewhat embarrassed manner, explained that he didn't know how to play the piano. And then Chris pressed his point."

"Although the student had the opportunity, he really didn't have the freedom. Opportunity and freedom are not the same thing. Chris's freedom to play the full spectrum of music, to passionately express the music within his soul, was only available to him as a result of years and years of disipline. Discipline can be confused with conformity. Many times we run from discipline or at least resist it because we feel we are being forced to conform in the most negative sense of the word. No one wants to be a clone. No one's life ambition is to be a carbon copy of someone else (except, of course, all those Elvis impersonators). Yet the irony is that when we forsake discipline in our attempt to avoid conformity, we lose our potential to be truely free. The course set before us offers the freedom hat comes from a discipline of the soul. There is a gauntlet you must be willing to pass through. At first the pursuit of character has the feel of learning scales, but soon what is formed becomes music to your ears. Without character all you're doing is playing the radio. When the character of Christ is formed within, you are no longer simply an echo but a voice."

who's there?

2006-12-22T17:05:00.000-05:00

I have started reading through the Bible with the help of a "Daily Bible" that I have had for a number of years. It's the kind of thing where it breaks down the entire Bible into 365 readings. I have tried this before and have gotten bogged down in Leviticus or Numbers or something so I thought I would try to get ahead a little by starting in December. Maybe if I never get behind I won't get as discouraged.

Anyway, a few days ago I was reading through the fourth chapter of Genesis and came across an interesting verse. It wasn't long ago that I taught a series of lessons based on the first eleven chapters of Genesis and this verse was one of the key verses. I think this might even be one of the key verses for understanding the entire Bible. In chapter four Adam and Eve have been banished from the Garden of Eden and have given birth to two sons. It seems for whatever reason (scholars can't agree) that God accepts Able's offerings and rejects Cain's. Because of this Cain is angry. It is in this context that God says the following to Cain;

"Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Cain had a choice. To do or not do what is right before God.

One of my fears in life is that one night after we have all gone to bed, someone might break into our house to try to harm us. You know the feeling when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and in the darkness and through sleepy eyes you see someone (who is really just a shadow or a door that was left open or whatever), but for a split second you think there is someone in your house. I hate that feeling. That someone might be there waiting, ready to hurt me or my family. Sometimes I even lay in bed thinking about what I would do if that really happened. I hope I never have to test my plan to deal with such a situation. But isn't that what God lays out before Cain? "Sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.

I think that too often sin desires to have me and I let it. The fact that God expects us to master it should be empowering. It should mean that we can face that which desires to have us. It will always be there waiting, ready to hurt me, but I must master it.

Lord, that I would have the strength to protect my soul from that which desires to have me.

moving trees

2006-12-21T16:11:00.000-05:00

near where we live there is a university that is always under construction. in the last few years they have spent millions of dollars (probably out of our pocket) on new classroom buildings, new student housing, a convocation center, a new fine arts center and many other projects. they have crossed one of the main roads of our city and added more student housing and even a few businesses including a panera bread co. (which is now our new breakfast spot) with so much change and construction the landscape has changed dramatically. for instance shoe lane at one time crossed through the campus to the neighborhood behind the school, but not anymore. they have completely eliminated one end of the street so that students can get to that end of the campus without having to cross a street. you can't even tell there once was a street there. they have completely covered the road and planted grass.

as you can imagine the roads around this area are also under major construction. not only did one street disappear completely, but they are now in the middle of a widening project that has displaced many local businesses, and an old church building. i guess the old adage "you can't fight city hall" is still appropriate. during all this upheaval some local environmentalist petitioned the city to save some old oak trees that would need to be removed for another portion of the road project. i don't know the details, but it was in the local paper for a few months until they came upon this compromise, the city would raise money to transplant those trees about fifty feet back from the road and out of the way of the new turning lane. (the irony of it all is that real living people with businesses and church buildings in the way got the shaft, but the trees get transplanted at the city's expense) so over the last year or so they have been working on moving these trees. it's silly to me, but whatever. i'm not insensitive to our environment, but it's silly. they first trimmed back a couple of the trees and then dug a big trench down into the root system. after several months a couple of the trees were moved away from the road. the only problem is at least one of those trees died after the move. i guess it's costly and not so easy to move trees.

in the bible, in the book of genesis, God created man and woman (adam and eve) and placed them in the garden of eden. from the description in genesis chapter two this must have been a great place. the bible says that God "planted a garden." it must have been magnificent, a place full of wonder and awe and it was all for adam and eve's enjoyment. there was a river that flowed from eden and it watered the garden and right in the middle there were a couple trees. actually there were probably many trees all over the garden, but in particular God placed two trees there in the middle. one was the tree of life the other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. the bible says that both of these trees produced fruit that was good to eat, except God asked adam and eve not to eat from the second tree. well, adam and eve after being tempted by satan did eat from that forbidden tree and they became very aware of themselves. they now were aware of good and evil. they even tried to hide from God. because they did not listen to God they were punished in several ways, but the most dreadful thing that happened was they were cast out of the garden of eden. more importantly they were "not allowed to reach out their hand and take from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

on the other end of the bible in the book of revelation there is another reference to the tree of life:

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be an curse." (Revelation 22:1-3)

the language here seems to indicate that this is the same tree that was in the garden. so my hope is that one day i can walk that street and eat from the fruit of that tree and there i can have live forever. galatians 3 says:

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.' He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

i guess it's costly and not so easy to move trees.

i don't want to

2006-12-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

i have been trying to do things lately that i don't want to do. for instance, i have taken up running. i hate it. i know it is good for me, that my lungs and heart will be stronger because of the exercise, but i still hate it. for me putting one foot in front of the other in a rythmic manner, inhaling and exhaling, winding through the streets of our neighborhood is all drudgery. and our neighborhood is a great place to run. there are beautiful trees, some great houses to pass, a quaint little village with shops to look at, there is a view of the james river and at just the right time of day the sun sets across the water. i mean it is probably one of the best places in the commonwealth to run. not far from our house there is even a city walking/running trail that goes through a wooded area next to a local musem with wooden bridges that cross a couple lakes. but i hate running there too. my lungs feel like they will explode, my legs feel like heavy soup and my breathing sounds like i am in the middle of some type of medical emergency. the entire time i am out i am thinking how much i don't want to be doing this. and that's what i like most about it. i do it anyway. don't ask me in a month whether i am still running because i may not be, but for now i hate it and i am doing it anyway.

i also hate getting up early. unless i have an early tee time i really don't want to get up before 7:30 or 8:00am. the last couple years at our house has been busy. our twin daughters will be three in a few weeks so we have been happy to get any rest. the first year was a bear and i was't the one who bore the biggest part of getting up with them, my wife was. even so i still slept less those first two years than ever before. so when our girls began sleeping until 7:00am or so about a year ago, i was not complaining. but i have been convicted lately that i need some solitude. a few minutes to spend with my thoughts, my bible and in prayer. let me assure you that there is no solitude after 7:00am at our house. once the girls are awake its on. and by on i mean on with volume. so if i am going to have any time it must be before they are awake. i remember my mother saying that she got up at 5:30am while we were growing up. that's about 30 years of getting up at 5:30am. so i hate it, but i'm trying.

i am also not much on journaling. so that's why i have started this blog. i know that when i have taken the time to write down my thoughts about things it has been helpful, but i never liked the idea of "keeping a journal." seems hokey. so this won't be a journal, it's a blog. i don't want to, but that's what i like about it.

swimming hole

2006-12-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

i'm not exactly sure what this will be. maybe this is just a place to record my own thoughts, maybe i can write something worthwhile, maybe it will make sense, and maybe not. for now i expect that i will ramble a bit and then see where it goes.

i feel like i'm standing on a rock at the swimming hole, scared to jump off into the unknown. a little apprehensive to just jump in not knowing exactly how far up i am and not knowing how deep the water is. if it's too shallow i could break something, and if it is too deep i might drown, but the thought of not being able to conjure up enough courage to jump at all is what scares me the most.

so ...