Th-Inking Out Loud...

The Imagination of Children

2010-12-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

The PDF-Calendar Configurator - Rene Springmeier

2010-12-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice little calendar maker. I like to print these and take them to meetings where I know scheduling issues will come up. With one of these at your side it's easy to quickly project schedule impacts or sketch out rough timelines for projects. A very handy little tool:

The PDF-Calendar Configurator - Rene Springmeier

BendDesk Multi-Touch Furniture

2010-12-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today the Hack-a-Day blog ran this post on a multi-touch display for your desk . I love the idea of being able to combine hard and soft copies side-by-side on the desktop.

The next step would be adding digital inking capability so you can markup your digital docs just like regular papers.
_________________________________________________________________________

BendDesk multi-touch furniture: "

The BendDesk is a horizontal and a vertical multi-touch display connected as one curved surface. Think of it as a smart white-board and a multi-touch desk all in one. It can be used to sort and edit information, or to play games. Check out “Bend Invaders”, a game demonstrated in the video after the break. When you touch two fingers to the display the two points are used to aim a laser at the oncoming monsters.

The system uses a combination of two projectors shining on the surface from underneath and behind. A series of LEDs around the edges of the display bathe it in infrared light. Three cameras with IR filters peer at the underside of the acrylic surface and detect touches by distinguishing variances in the IR pattern through a process called Frustrated Total Internal Reflection. If you’re interested in more of the math and science involved there are a couple of papers available from the project site linked at the top of this post.

We’ve seen so many displays using the Kinect lately, it’s refreshing to see one that doesn’t.

Sketch of My Hand

2010-11-27T12:42:00.000-08:00

The Hope of Every Contrite Heart

2010-11-12T04:16:00.001-08:00

I found this gem of a poem in Spurgeon's "The Treasury of David". It's under Ps 9:10. There's no title listed for it there. Perhaps he's quoting some old forgotten hymn or another poet. Regardless, this looks like a good candidate for memorizing.
"O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall how kind thou art,
How good to those who seek.
But what to those who find, ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus what it is,
None but his loved ones know."

Praying for Visions of God

2010-11-05T03:04:00.001-07:00

Mind Map- Requirements for Fellowship in 1st John

2010-11-01T14:04:00.001-07:00

Some of my notes might seem a little cryptic but this mind map I made of some aspects of 1st John has intersting relationships. Of particular interest is the connection between Walking in the Light, Keeping Oneself Unspotted by the World, and Loving Our Brothers. Walking in the light relates our purity and our love to others. Something else that comes through is how vesrs 2:1 shows Jesus is our atonement and bridges confessing our sin and abiding in Christ.

Gospelizing My Kids

2010-10-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

A while back I took the kids through a short catechism on Saturday mornings. I used a whiteboard to illustrate how sin effects our hearts. Then they drew their own pictures of hearts ruined by sin. I love their artwork :-) We has a lot of fun doing this kind of stuff. I should get them back into it!

God's Pleasure in Parenting

2010-10-28T14:53:00.001-07:00

Comics and Data Presentation

2010-10-25T15:47:00.001-07:00

Stewarding Our Relationship with God

2010-10-19T18:40:00.001-07:00

This is a handwritten riteMail message. If you don't see it above, click here
to open it in your default web browser. Click here to download riteMail applications.

Cardioid

2010-10-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

Nicely done with SpaceTime 4.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardioid

Sermon Development

2010-10-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here's my system for developing sermons:

Ink Blogging from a Pocket PC

2010-10-16T18:54:00.001-07:00

This is a handwritten riteMail message. If you don't see it above, click here
to open it in your default web browser. Click here to download riteMail applications.

The Gospel in Life Study

2010-05-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

Come one, come all!!! Tonight we're starting a new study from Tim Keller and the Folks at Redeemer Presbyterian Church called The Gospel in Life. It's at the Kilbanes' house starting around 7pm. If you live in Harford County and would like to drop by please send me an email and I'll reply with directions. We have extra books so don't worry about that. All are welcome!

Check out the trailer....

Trailer for Gospel in Life from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

ServeFest 2010

2010-04-25T18:41:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Risen Redeemer had the opportunity to participate in ServeFest 2010. It turned out to be a great blessing. Folks from Mountain Christian Church joined us as we gathered at Lasos, Inc in Bel Air to clean, organize, set up cabinets and shelves, and a host of other odds and ends jobs. Jeff Cole did a great job of leading and organizing the event.

There are two things that really impressed me about the time:

1) We were able to serve a non-profit which directly impacts aliens and foreigners in our area. These are folks who are typically marginalized in our society. Yet scripture calls us to “welcome the alien among you”.

2) We were able to host folks from Mountain Christian Church on our project. The Kingdom of God extends beyond the walls of our local church. The Lausanne Covenant says it well, "Evangelism also summons us to unity, because our oneness strengthens our witness, just as our disunity undermines our gospel of reconciliation."

All in all we had a great time and I’m looking forward to more serving opportunities in the future.

Risen Redeemer Fellowhip Way Forward Presentation Spring 10

2010-03-07T10:51:00.001-08:00

Hey folks. Check out this slide show detailing Risen Redeemer's plans for Spring 2010. God's grace over the last year has been amazing and we're eager to see what He'll do in 2010. Please take a look and consider spending some time in prayer for our church.

Risen Redeemer Fellowhip Way Forward Presentation Spring 10

View more presentations from rkilba1.

Great Poem on Postmodernism...Ya Know???

2010-01-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

Enjoy this poem from Taylor Mali. His message is poignant in our postmodern culture. My hope is that as a Christian I will live with the deep conviction of 1Thess 1:5 and the wisdom of Eph 5:15-17. That I will take Taylor's challenge to "To speak with conviction".

Totally like whatever, you know?

By Taylor Mali

www.taylormali.com

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

A Fresh Perspective on Bedtime

2009-10-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's pretty crazy around the house in the evenings. Trying to get four little ones to bed in an orderly manner is no small task. It's times like that when the poetry of Edgar Guest helps me to appriciate the blessing it is to be a dad. This one especially warmed my heart today.

No Children!

by Edgar Guest

No children in the house to play--

It must be hard to live that way!

I wonder what the people do

When night comes on and the work is through,

With no glad little folks to shout,

No eager feet to race about,

No youthful tongues to chatter on

About the joy that's been and gone?

The house might be a castle fine,

But what a lonely place to dine!

No children in the house at all,

No fingermarks upon the wall,

No corner where the toys are piled--

Sure indication of a child.

No little lips to breathe the prayer

That God shall keep you in His care,

No glad caress and welcome sweet

When night returns you to your street;

No little lips a kiss to give--

Oh, what a lonely way to live!

No children in the house! I fear

We could not stand it half a year.

What would we talk about at night,

Plan for and work with all our might,

Hold common dreams about and find

True union of heart and mind,

If we two had no greater care

Than what we both should eat and wear?

We never knew love's brightest flame

Until the day the baby came.

And now we could not get along

Without their laughter and their song.

Joy is not bottled on a shelf,

It cannot feed upon itself,

And even love, if it shall wear,

Must find its happiness in care;

Dull we'd become of mind and speech

Had we no little ones to teach.

No children in the house to play!

Oh, we could never live that way!

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Update 8 Aug 09: I've imported my Sine Qua Non of the Church blog so I can consolidate the two.

Report from the Acts 29 LEAD Conference- Part II

2008-11-26T07:26:00.000-08:00

*see note

The Focus--- Gospel Centered Church Planting

The teaching at the LEAD conference was excellent. Eric Mason kicked off the fist session with a message called, “Gospel Centered Ministry Philosophy” and it was spot-on. The Gospel must be what shapes and dictates our philosophy of ministry and how we approach the topic of planting new churches. After laying that foundation each conference speaker hit the topic of Gospel centered church planting from a variety of perspectives. Topics included: the Power of the Gospel in Preaching, Building Gospel DNA in a Church Plant, Socially/Ethnically Hybrid Leadership, Transformational Churches, and Landmines in Church Planting.

Honestly, I expected to hear more about the need for Christians to be
‘missional’ (a word used to describe Jesus’ call for Christians to proactively share their faith with others). But even though the word wasn’t used much, being missional was addressed, just from an oblique angle. The connection between keeping the Gospel central and being missional may not be obvious at first. Isn’t being missional about what we do and Gospel centered philosophy more about how we think? In short, yes that’s right. But for Christians all our doing comes out of our understanding of the Gospel and its implications. Feeding the poor, visiting the sick, telling others about Jesus comes from joy and gratitude for the complete and total forgiveness we have through Jesus. In fact, this joy and gratitude is so compelling that when I find myself lacking in desire to serve others in these ways, I know it’s time to go back and revisit the meaning of the Gospel.

The men who led the conference understand this dynamic well (better than I do). That’s why we went there and why I’m seeking to get both myself and my family more involved with Acts 29. My hope and prayer is that God will help us to grow in both keeping a Gospel centered ministry philosophy and do more to work out that philosophy through missional living.

* above photo can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/Leadforthecity/LEAD02?authkey=TEcsXp0hnx0

Report from the Acts 29 LEAD Conference- Part I

2008-11-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Some Background
Recently Beth and I had the opportunity to attend the Acts 29 "Lead in the Church, for the City" conference. We had a great time and I thought I'd share just a little about what we saw there. There's too much to include in one post so I decided to break it up a little.

The Acts 29 pastors who taught were:

Darrin Patrick- The Journey (St. Louis, MO)
Eric Mason- Epiphany Fellowship (Philidelphia, PA)
Daniel Montgomery- Sojourn Church (Louisville, KY)
Randy Nabors- New City Fellowship (Chattanooga, TN)
Matt Carter- The Austin Stone Community Church (Austin, TX)

Also, the special guest speaker was Dr. Bryan Chapell - President of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO)

Our Hosts---The Journey
I was thoroughly impressed with the host church, The Journey (led by Darrin Patrick). The church was robust and replete with folks who wanted to serve. It seemed like everywhere you looked there was someone in a Journey shirt ready to assist you. There was a healthy demographic mix to them as well. We met young, old, single, married, men, women, and all types of ethic groups...a wonderful blend of backgrounds. Although the teaching at the conference was great, it was the character of The Journey’s members that gave credibility to what we were hearing. The Journey is a great example of what it means to reach out without selling out. Now we've seen it up close and personal...missional while still having quality discipleship.

The conference was held at their Tower Grove campus. The church has four campuses altogether, spread throughout St. Louis. Tower Grove seemed to be an old Catholic parish converted and restored to have a contemporary feel to it (see pics on Picasa). There were four buildings in all:

1) Main Sanctuary- modern lighting and sound system with monitors and screens to support worship

2) Gymnasium- this is where they fed us (yes they provided food). I'm not sure about this, but I thought I heard someone saying they use the kitchen to support ministry to the homeless. The Journey has its own non-profit mercy ministry to St. Louis.

3) Rectory- looked like they used it for admin and to house some of their full-time interns. Many of the interns served at the conference. Toward the end, Darrin Patrick had them come on stage to publicly honor and thank them. There were at least 10 folks. All we're being trained to use their gifts in kingdom service. They were not just pastoral candidates but some were admin, worship, or mercy ministry interns.

4) School building- Upper classrooms were used for theological classes. The basement had been converted into a walkthrough art gallery (all by Journey members) and had a very cool "Starbucks'ish" coffee bar in it.

Amazingly God has granted all this growth in only a few years. My understanding is The Journey was planted in 2002...six years ago! May He continue to grant them favor in their ministry.

Go here for the conference website: http://www.leadforthecity.com/
Go here for the Picasa photo album of the conference: http://picasaweb.google.com/Leadforthecity/LEAD02?authkey=TEcsXp0hnx0

Running the Race - Part II

2008-11-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Run with a Pace Group

More “lessons learned” from the 2008 Baltimore Marathon:

The organizers of the race provided pace groups to help novices like me. At the start line I could see small groups of runners all wearing the same colored shirts and holding up signs with various expected finish times on them. The idea is everyone in the group works together to keep the right pace and finish with the specified time. I jumped in with the 4.5 hr group (although I didn't finish with them ;-)

The pace group was great. It was led by an experienced runner who had completed several marathons and had a proven time record. He was rock steady and full of good advice. The other runners in the group were also a big help. They shouted encouragements to each other and had a team mentality. I highly recommend a pace group if you're a first time runner.

For Christians, God has provided a “pace group” to help us run our race. It’s called the local church. According to the Bible the church is a place where we can: receive encouragement from other “runners” (Gal 6:1-2), be led by others who can set a challenging “pace” (Hebrews 13:17), and be held accountable to “keep up with the rest of the group” (Ephes. 5:21).

After the marathon I was all the more compelled to see new churches planted and built. I’ve had an amazing first hand experience of all the benefits I listed above. Yet statistics show that in America, the number of churches per capita is on the decline. May God grant us the faith, gifts, passion, and wisdom to be used by Him to plant and build more local churches!

Free Books: Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers

2008-11-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

Here's something cool. Thomas Nelson Publishers offers free books to bloggers who will promise to do a review of selected books. You can check it out here: http://brb.thomasnelson.com/

My first review will be of David Jeremiah's "What In the World Is Going On? 10 Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore" You can check out the product page here:
http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=078522887X

Stay tuned for the review!!!!!!!!!!

The Great Truth of the Gospel

2008-10-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

From Puritan theologian John Owen in his book Communion with God:

...This is the great truth of the Gospel. Commonly, the Father, the first person of the Trinity, is seen as only full of wrath and anger against sin. But in the Gospel, God is now revealed especially as love, as full of love toward us. To bring home this truth is the special work of the Gospel (Titus 3:3-7)."

...The chief way by which the saints have communion with the Father is love- free, undeserved, eternal, love. This love the Father pours out on the saints. Saints are to see God as full of love to them. They are to receive him as the One who loves them, and are to be full of praise and thanksgiving to God for his love. They are to show gratitude for his love by living a life which pleases him."

Running the Race- Part I

2008-10-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

If you were anywhere near downtown last week you probably know that Saturday was the 2008 Baltimore Running Festival. My family and I went down together and I ran in the full marathon. There were several different running events to watch and activities for the kids so everybody had a great time.

The New Testament uses “running a race” as an illustration of what’s it’s like to follow Jesus (1 Cor 9:24; Gal 2:2,5:7; & Heb 12:1). And now, after having run a long race myself, I’ve got a much greater appreciation for the power of this illustration (as well as few aches and pains). Over the next few posts I’d like to share some of what I took home from the race in the hope it will encourage and edify.

You Must Eat and Drink Along the Way

As I started the race I thought I had about a 50-50 chance of finishing. In training I could never go beyond 18 miles, no matter how hard I tried. I would inevitably reach a point where I just couldn’t pick up and put down my feet any more. I’d reach a wall of exhaustion. After the race started I overheard two other runners talking. A more experienced runner told the other, “Don’t forget to get a drink of water and grab a piece fruit around mile 14. You need energy and if you don’t eat and drink something at mile 14, you’ll be feeling it around mile 18!” About every 3-4 miles along the course the race officials had placed water stands with treats like Gummy Bears and half bananas. Runners grabbed a drink and small snack as they passed by. I followed suit and sure enough I found that at mile 18 my energy level was much higher than in training. I was able to keep going, running farther than I’ve ever run in my life. The Bible teaches us that God’s Word has the same effect on our souls. In Matthew 4:4 we read,

“Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say: `No one can live only on food. People need every word that God has spoken.’ ” (CEV)

God’s Word keeps us going on the path of discipleship. It’s by God’s Word that we are edified and built up, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32, NIV). When it’s preached it creates faith in the hearts of everyone who hears it, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17, NIV).

The Word of God was most powerfully manifested in the life of Christ, “In the beginning was the Word, and…in Him was life…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1, 4, 14). He gave up His flesh and blood as a sacrifice for us so we would not be punished for our sins but receive mercy and grace instead. God has provided “water and food” for the race we run (Mk 14:22-24). I pray the Holy Spirit will help me to not forget to “eat and drink” by meditating on the Gospel of Christ found in the Bible. When I neglect God’s Word and don’t nourish my soul on it, I’m inclined to grow weary and loose my spiritual zeal. So one thing I took away from the race was a new hunger for the Word of God. May He grant us all a fresh encounter with His sustaining, edifying, faith building grace given to us in its pages!

The Mark Kilbane 2008 Goal Challenge

2008-08-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

This year my brother Mark put out a challenge for all takers. It's a really simple challenge, just do one thing you've always wanted to do. That seems pretty easy right? Well there are a few rules:

1) The goal must challenge you. It must not be just outside your normal sphere. It must be something you've never done or experienced before. Think sideways--the ballet dancer who wants to study astrophysics and build an observatory in the backyard; the construction worker who wants to learn the art of indoor bonsai.

2) The challenge must be made public. Results known but to yourself don't count, and self-goals unexpressed often go undone. Too easy. You must lay it on the line and make your goal known to the world, which leads me to

3) The goal must be quantifiable. No fuzzy "I want to feel better about myself" nonsense. Buy a self-help book. The objective must be measurable. For example, if you want to play piano, sign up for lessons and give a recital at the end of the year (most studios have them). If you want to do a new foreign language, take a basic proficiency test at the end of the year, and travel to that country. You'll best decide how your goal is quantifiable--but you must make that absolutely clear when you agree to the challenge.

4) Steps must be formalized. No vague unwritten plans to "get better" at something. Classes are probably going to be necessary for almost any goal--having a mentor is critical to success. Discuss the goal with the mentor/teacher and you will find they will help you achieve your objective with their experience. They'll get excited about it, too.

5) The goal must be achievable in one year. A year is NOT very much time--especially because you are all very busy people. Frame the goal carefully. You probably won't be able to race the Iditarod sled race in a year. (But if that's really your goal, you can set a concrete one-year goal of raising the money and training and learning everything you can about it.) For example, if you want to learn to actually play the guitar that's been gathering dust in the closet for a decade, seek to be able to pick up a Beatles's singalong songbook at a party, not play Hendrix licks. For a new language--seek the ability to get around town, exchange pleasantries, order in a restaurant, etc., not read foreign literature.

So my goal was to run a full marathon. Last week I ran the farthest I've ever gone: 11 miles.

You can check out my progress here: russ2008gc

Heroin in the City

2008-08-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

In addition to the HIV and murder rate problems the city faces, Baltimore also suffers from rampant heroin addiction.

Here's an article from World Magazine addressing heroin addiction in general. It's an interview with Theodore Dalrymple, author of "Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy". Dalrymple's positions on heroin addiction are radical in today's culture:

...heroin is not highly addictive, withdrawal from it does not require medical assistance, addicts do not become criminals to feed their habits, and heroin addiction is often a spiritual problem.

...a spiritual problem...

Dalrymple’s message is a hopeful one! Why, because in Christ we have a spiritual answer. Mark Driscoll once said that spreading the gospel is the greatest thing his church could do for Seattle. May God help us to do the same in Baltimore.

The Incomparable Christ, the Gift of His Spirit, and the City of Baltimore

2008-08-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

In his book "The Incomparable Christ" John Stott reminds us that the final act in the saving career of Jesus was his gift of the Holy Spirit to his church (Acts 2:33).

Concerning the gift, Stott writes:

"Of all the Holy Spirit's many ministries, the New Testament emphasis (though often overlooked) is on mission. Pentecost was essentially a missionary event. Indeed, the gap between the first and second comings of Christ, between the ascension (when he disappeared) and the Parousia (when he will reappear) is, in God's purpose, to be filled with the worldwide mission of the church. As the late Bishop Lesslie Newbigin put it, 'the church is the pilgrim people of God. It is on the move-hastening to the ends of the earth to beseech all men to be reconciled to God, and hastening to end of time to meet its lord, who will gather all into one'. "

Indeed, the Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit, inhabiting and moving the church along in the mission of God. Do you know how God is actively working (Jn 5:17, 19-20) on His mission in Baltimore City? How God is working to reveal the incomparable riches and glories of Christ to our generation in the Baltimore area? One way (out of many) is through the planting of a new church near the Belvedere Square area.

Together with Jeff Cole, we’re seeking to plant and establish a church in Baltimore with a vision of service and helps ministry as we "beseech all men to be reconciled to God". If you have an interest in church planting and in the city of Baltimore, I invite you to join us as we look into the book of Jonah to learn more about God's heart for urban ministry. Does the Lord care about Baltimore? What about Towson (close suburb to Belvedere Square)? There are 650,000 people living in Baltimore and 40,000 in Towson. Yet Baltimore ranks first in the country for HIV infection per capita and second for murder per capita. These are incomparably huge problems which need an incomparably huge solution. Baltimore needs the incomparable Savior, the incomparable Jesus Christ!

You can find more details about the Jonah study on our blog.

Hope to see you there!

Lessons Learned from Route 5:9

2008-07-16T04:38:00.000-07:00

Ken Sandy's Peacemaker Ministries hosts a great blog called Route 5:9 (reflections on living out Matt 5:9). Recently he and his staff returned from a ministry trip to Asia. In this post 10 Things I Learned on our Trip to South Asia he shares some interesting insights. What really grabbed me were points 7, 5, and 1:

7. A little bit of pressure on the church can be a good thing: We in the United States live such comfortable lives; it's amazing to see and even experience the sacrifices and risks that people take because of their belief in God's power and his worthiness. ---I agree. The Lord calls His people to Biblical proactivity in making sacrifices for His kingdom just as well as He calls us to a Biblical responce to His ordained sanctifying trails.

5. God is more powerful than we often give him credit for being. I noticed that in the worship songs and the prayers of our hosts, there was a strong emphasis on God's power. I think that our churches in the United States have lost our awe of God's power because we emphasize God's love to the point of seeing him as our "buddy." It was refreshing and challenging to realize that these two perspectives can come together to give us a more robust understanding of God's character.---Over emphasis on the doctrine of indwelling sin can also indicate a loss of the awe of God's power. Self-abasing humility must be balanced by understanding "He who is in you will finish the good work that He began" otherwise we can fall into omphaloskepsis.

1. Just being with people sends a powerful message. God doesn't always call us to be active and "doing" things, which our American pragmatism tells us we need to be doing in order to feel productive and useful. We enjoyed rich fellowship, worship and teaching which was just as important "ministry" as the teaching and coaching that God allowed us to do. Oh, and we also enjoyed some fantastic food!---Amen. May God grant us a ministry of being rather than simply doing.

God's Love Song To You by Darlene Sargeant

2008-05-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a poem written by my freind Darlene Sargeant way back in Nov of '94:

God's Love Song To You

No matter how much we may fail,
God's love for us is to avail.
Our sins to him are not seen,
For through His blood we are clean.

When God looks at us he sees his Son,
Why do we forget that He's the one,
Who carried our guilt and sins that day?
For by his love he paved the way!

Oh the blood from Cal-va-ry,
That washed you clean, oh please see!
He does not see your sins and faults,
He only sees the child that He bought.

God loves you so much, so dear you are,
From his spirit you are never far.
Remember Jesus and where you were found,
Come to Jesus afresh and joyfully abound.

So bountifully in His Spirit you'll abide.
So carefully we are kept by his side.
Draw near to your Father, Savior, and freind.
Cast all of your questions and fears at His cross and bend,

Your heart to your heavenly Fathers will.
Oh how your Father loves you still!
Are you weary because your sins separate you from the Father?
Oh do not wait, do not hesitate! To enter and run,

Into the loving, gentle, arms of he who won,
Your complete victory; he's Gods Son!
Enter into his presence even now.
Father, to your will I humbly bow,

At times God may say; wait and trust,
So in Almighty God all cares we lay, we must!
Never forget his love,
The price He paid on Calvary's cross!
In return we commit our lives to God and count all as lost.

A Christmas Poem from George Herbert

2007-12-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a great Christmas poem from George Herbert. He nails the compulsion we feel to worship Christ when we consider his incarnation. The most glorious, beautiful, amazing, holy, and pure son of God deliberately chose to dwell with and for us, "To Man of all beasts be not thou a stranger". Yes Lord, be thou not a stranger to us!

CHRISTMAS.

ALL after pleasures as I rid one day,
My horse and I, both tir'd, bodie and minde,
With full crie of affections, quite astray ;
I took up in the next inne I could finde.

There when I came, whom found I but my deare,
My dearest Lord, expecting till the grief
Of pleasures brought me to him, readie there
To be all passengers most sweet relief?

O Thou, whose glorious, yet contracted light,
Wrapt in night's mantle, stole into a manger ;
Since my dark soul and brutish is thy right,
To Man of all beasts be not thou a stranger :

Furnish and deck my soul, that thou mayst have
A better lodging, than a rack, or grave.

The shepherds sing ; and shall I silent be?
My God, no hymne for thee?
My soul 's a shepherd too : a flock it feeds
Of thoughts, and words, and deeds.
The pasture is thy word ; the streams, thy grace
Enriching all the place.
Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers
Out-sing the day-light houres.
Then we will chide the sunne for letting night
Take up his place and right :

We sing one common Lord ; wherefore he should
Himself the candle hold.

I will go searching, till I finde a sunne
Shall stay, till we have done ;
A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly,
As frost-nipt sunnes look sadly.
Then we will sing, and shine all our own day,
And one another pay :
His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine,
Till ev'n his beams sing, and my musick shine.

A True Hero

2007-10-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

Check out this incredible story about professional race car driver David Purley. Purley was a formula 1 driver in the 1970's. He distinguished himself as a true hero during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix. Toward the end of the race Purley's close friend Roger Williamson's car crashed into the guard rail, flipped over, and burst into flames with Williamson trapped inside. Purley abandoned his car and the race in an attempt to rescue his friend. While spectators and ill prepared race officials looked on, Purley struggled to free Williamson. Despite his efforts he was tragically unsuccessful. This video tribute to Purley captures the drama of the event. Of particular interest is the on camera interview with Purley conducted the day after Williamson's death. Purley exemplifies the statement displayed as the video concludes,

"Heroes are not made heroes because they succeed, but merely because they try while others do nothing."

Tagged

2007-10-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's my response to my own tag:

10 years ago I was:
Starting my 1st semester as a full-time at Harford Community College
Teaching Algebra 1 and Geometry at The Christian Discipleship School (CDS)
Working part-time at Weis Markets in Abingdon
Getting counsel about asking Beth Simmons (now Beth Kilbane) to court me
Living with the Rusinko's at 1015 Lake Front Drive, Edgewood

20 years ago I was:
Still dead in sin
Living in Urbana, IL with my older sister Kerri
Starting my senior year of High School
Working at County Market grocery store

30 years ago I was:
Dead in sin
Living in St. Petersburg FL
Attending St. Paul's Catholic Elementary School
Starting to take Karate lessons (Uechi Rhu) with my family
Probably standing in line to see Star Wars

White Marsh Caregroup

2007-10-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Check out the White Marsh Caregroup Blog.

Leave a comment and let me what you think.

Book Review: Parenting in the Pew

2007-03-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

I finished "Parenting in the Pew" by Robbie Castleman last night. Castleman has an obvious passion for worship which really comes through strong. I was encouraged by her example of making the most of Sunday mornings to train her children to participate in worship. This is what I took to be her thesis: parents should have the same attitude toward training their children to worship as they do about training their children in any other spiritual disciple. More specifically, children need to be trained to participate in worship. The anti-thesis of Castleman's perspective would be to make children sit and be quiet in church so as to not be distracting with no concern for how children are engaging the worship experience.

I feel the book is more appropriate for parents in mainline, traditional churches rather than those from contemporary non-denominational churches. This is because Castleman relies heavily on her own experience to provide practical applications (good). Unfortunately most of these examples don't translate well to churches that don't use a liturgy, an hymnal, or that do utilize a children's ministry during the adult sermon.

That being said there were a few things mentioned in the book that helped think about how I can better shepherd my kids on Sunday mornings. Among many other points Castleman encourages us to teach our children to worship God through financial giving. At one point she says, "Money for the offering is a constant need from Sunday to Sunday, though, and this gives parents the opportunity to teach children an important aspect of Christian obedience. Teaching children to tithe can be an exciting part of learning to trust God and participate in the work of his people."

Another point that made me think came from the chapter "Prayer, Confession, and Canned Goods". Castleman teaches that even toddlers can be taught to confess sin, "A toddler can be encouraged to confess any recent "no-no". But it should be something he or she actually remembers, something that is not more than a day old. Fortunately for purposes of training in confession, this is not a problem for the normal toddler!"

Other goods quotes include the following:

"There is no external circumstance that can keep you from worship."

"A great deal of parenting in the pew is letting our children see us celebrate before the Lord."

"One of the biggest challenges for parenting in the pew is training children to pay attention to what is happening- the worship of God- and making them a part of it."

All in all I saw the book is worth reading, especially so for parents in churches with a regular liturgy.

A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit

2007-03-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Here's an excerpt from what I've been reading lately. It's Matthew Henry's book "A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit". This book has had a profound impact on my life and in my opinion it's the best work on the topic of humility in existence. Even though I like it so much, I never seem to master its contents. Recently I've gone back for another refresher course. There are 3 things I love about this book:

1) Henry gives details of what meekness [his word for humility] looks like in practice. This is especially helpful because pride and humility are pervasive things which can be hard to nail down at times.
2) He spends a good deal of time on convincing the reader that meekness is an extremely desirable thing. He calls it excellent and "a precious jewel". When I read these sections I truly desire to be humble.
3) He gives great detailed instructions on how to cultivate meekness.

Here is a sample passage:

"We must receive reproofs with meekness. If we do that which deserves rebuke, and meet those that are so just and kind as to give it us, we must be quiet under it, not quarreling with the reprover, nor objecting to the reproof, nor fretting that we are touched in a sore place; but submitting to it, and laying our souls under the conviction of it. If reproofs are physical, it becomes us to be patient. "Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness," and an excellent oil, healing to the wounds of sin, and making the face to shine; and let us never reckon that it breaks the head, if it helps to break the heart. Meekness suffers the word of admonition, and takes it patiently and thankfully, not only from the hand of God that sends it, but from the hand of our friend that brings it. We must not be like the reprobate Sodomites, or that pert Hebrew, Exod. 2:14, that flew in the face of their reprovers, though really they were the best friends they had, with, "Who made you a judge?" but like David, who, when Abigail so prudently scotched the wheels of his passion, not only blessed God that sent her, and blessed her advice, but blessed her: not only hearkened to her voice, but accepted her person. Though perhaps the reprover supposes the fault greater than really it was, and though the reproof be not given with all the prudence in the world, yet meekness will teach us to accept it quietly, and to make the best use we can of it. Further, if indeed we are completely innocent of that for which we are reproved, still the meekness of wisdom would teach us to apply the reproof to some other fault of which our own consciences convict us: we would not quarrel with a real intended kindness, though not done with ceremony, and though in some circumstances mistaken or misplaced.

You that are in inferior relations—children, servants, scholars—must, with all meekness and submission, receive the reproofs of your parent, masters, and teachers; their age supposes them to have more understanding than you, and their place gives them an authority over you to which you are to pay a deference, and in which you are to acquiesce, else farewell all order and peace. The angel rebuked Hagar for flying from her mistress, though she dealt harshly with her, and obliged her to return and submit herself under her hands. "If the spirit of a ruler rises up against you," and you are chided for a fault, "do not leave your place," as an inferior; for "calmness lays great errors to rest." "If you have thought evil, lay your hand upon your mouth" to keep that evil thought from breaking out in any undue and unbecoming language. Reproofs are likely to do us good when we meekly submit to them; they are "as an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold," when "an obedient ear" is given to a wise reprover. Yes, even superiors are to receive reproofs from their inferiors with meekness, as they would any other token of kindness and good will. Naaman, who turned away from the prophet in a rage, yet heeded the reproof his own servants gave him, and was overruled by the reason of it, which was no more a disparagement to him than it was to receive instruction from his wife's maid to whom to go for a cure of his leprosy. Meekness teaches us, when a just reproof is given, to regard not so much who speaks, as what is spoken."

Book Review

2007-02-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer

This was a great a book and I recommend it to anyone interested in church planting. It can be divided in two parts, the first deals with the theology behind church planting, the second part is instruction on the practical aspects of planting.

It was the first section on the theology of planting that impacted me the most. Stetzer does a great job of communicating the scriptural basis for church planting. He believes church planting is THE Bible's prescribed means for fulfilling the great commission. He first takes time to answer the question, Why plant churches? Then he addresses many commonly held misconceptions that may hinder people from getting involved in planting.

Common objections to planting that Stetzer addresses are:

1. "We already have a church in that town; we don't need another congregation there. "
Stetzer says "For many the idea of one large church in more attractive than multiple churches. ...Despite this bigger-is-better mentality, statistics do not support the assumption that size is necessarily the best way to reach people. Though large churches are more cost effective than small churches, new churches are more effective than large churches, particularly in evangelism."

2. The parish church mindset which advocates the presence of one denominational church per region. The fallacy here is that these folks believe one church has the potential to effective reach and serve a geographic area. This is not the case. Even churches with similar doctrine and dogma will always reach different demographic groups. One church cannot reach all social groups and subcultures. The more churches in a locality, the more people will be reached.

3. The professional church syndrome is the notion that all churches must have seminary-trained pastors to be legitimate. But history shows that lay preachers effectively planted many Baptist and Methodist churches along the American frontier.

4. Another hindering philosophy is the idealist assumption that denominations should spend time and money on rescuing dying churches before planting new ones. Fallacy- rescuing dying churches is more effective than planting new ones.

5. Finally there is the flawed belief that North America and Canada are "already reached". Statistics show that Christianity is on the decline in America. In 1900 there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans, in 1996 there were 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans.

The second part of the book was more focused on the practicalities of planting. Some interesting things to note were:

1. The use of the Engel Scale, Gray Matrix, and Stetzer Evangelism Journey.
2. Techniques for following up on visitors and guests: relationship list, follow up call, follow up visit.
3. Reasons for churches to plant daughter churches: grow the kingdom, transmit legacy, grow denomination, and better serve differing cultural groups.

This book was a thought provoking exploration of church planting. It challenges many presuppositions and will definitely edify people who are interested in planting work.

Blitz Bust

2007-02-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

Well the blitz is over. Truth be told it was more of a bust than a blitz. After two weeks instead of one, I was only able to complete 3 books on the list."

Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age
The Invitation System
Reformed Evangelism

It was definitely worth it. All the books were good reading and I retained much more than I thought I would. Over the next few posts I'll share the highlights.

In the meantime I'm putting the remaining books back on the shelf and plan to go through related to home life; Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children into the Joy of Worship.

Book Blitz

2007-02-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

I confess that lately I've been falling behind in my reading . Have you ever gotten in a rut where you find yourself lightly skimming over about one paragraph of a book each night before you crash and fall asleep? That's where I've been for a couple of months now. Actually it's worse than that. Some nights I don't read anything at all. It seems like I've been in the same book for a hundred years!!!

Well, I've decided to do something about it. I'm calling it the Book Blitz. There are about three or four books that I've been wanting to get to for months and a couple that have been on my shelf for even longer. Starting tonight I'm going to go on a book blitz and try to read them all in one week! Of course I don't think this will make me an expert on the material in each book. My hope is that God will use the material to facilitate his work in my life or put a spark sto omething he wants me grow in.

Here are the books on tap:
Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age by Ed Stetzer
This is the book I've been stuck in for over a month. I'm about halfway through now.

Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them by Thom S. Rainer
Recommended by my pastor.

The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin
Recommended by Acts29 and most missional types out there.

The Hospitality Commands by Alexander Strauch
Great book (also very short) which I've already read. I want to go through it again just to refresh myself.

Reformed Evangelsim by Morton Smith
Another very small book which has been on my shelf for over a year.

The Invitation System by Ian Murray
Same as above...been on the to do list for a very long time.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards
If I have time.

I'll try to blog some of what I learn when every is finished.

Quiz Time

2007-01-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

I came across this quiz while surfing around recently. Here is my score from the "Advanced" test:

3 for 10 in 203.6 seconds.

:-(

How well do you know the words of Jesus?

Good Reading List

2007-01-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a cut and paste of the latest version of the Acts29 missional reading list. Lots of good stuff here:

Expanded Reading List:

Apologetics
Apologetics to the Glory of God, John Frame purchase
Jesus Under Fire, J.P. Moreland, Editor purchase
Scaling The Secular City, J.P. Moreland purchase
Classical Apologetics, Sproul, Gerstner, Lindsley purchase
The Defense of the Faith, Cornelius Van Til purchase
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis purchase
Christianity on Trial, Vincent Caroll, purchase

Canon
The Canon, F.F. Bruce purchase

Church Government
Biblical Eldership, Alexander Strauch purchase
Elders and Leaders, Gene Getz purchase
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark Dever purchase
Confessions of a Reformission, Rev. Mark Driscoll purchase

Church History
Church History in Plain Language, Bruce Shelley purchase

Church in Postmodernity
Above all Earthly Pow'rs, David Wells purchase
The Gagging of God, DA Carson purchase

Church Planting Resources
44 Questions for Church Planters, Lyle E. Schaller purchase
Church Planting for a Greater Harvest: A Comprehensive Guide, C. Peter Wagner and Francis A. Sullivan purchase
Cities: Missions' New Frontier, Roger S. Greenway and Timothy M. Monsma purchase
Creating Communities of the Kingdom: New Testament Models of Church Planting, David W. Shenk and Ervin R. Stutzman purchase
God's Missionary People: Rethinking the Purpose of the Local Church, Charles Van Engen purchase
Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?, Roland Allen purchase
Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches, Christian A. Schwarz purchase
Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century, Aubrey Malphurs and Joe Aldrich purchase
Church Planting From the Ground Up, Tom Jones purchase
Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer purchase
Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, Ed Stetzer purchase
Starting a New Church, Ralph Moore purchase

Christian Life
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton purchase
The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer purchase
Desiring God, John Piper purchase
The Pleasures of God, John Piper purchase
A Long Obedience In The Same Direction, Eugene Peterson purchase

The Cross
The Cross of Christ, John Stott purchase
The Cross and Salvation, Bruce Demarest purchase
The Atonement, Leon Morris purchase
The Glory of the Atonement, Hill, James, and Nicole purchase

Cults
Kingdom of the Cults, Walter Martin purchase
The Challenge of the Cults and the New Religions, Ron Rhodes purchase
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, & World Religions, George Mather purchase

Emerging Church
Perimeters of Light, Ed Stetzer purchase
Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, DA Carson purchase

Feminism
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, John Piper and Wayne Grudem purchase
Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth, Wayne Grudem purchase

Hermeneutics
Getting the Message, Daniel Doriani purchase
Is There Meaning In the Text, Kevin Vanhoozer purchase

Historical Theology
Christian Theology: An Introduction, Alister E. McGrath purchase
The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel purchase
The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel purchase

Marriage & Family
Shepherding A Child's Heart, Ted Tripp purchase
Intimate Issues, Linda Dillow (Women) purchase
A Celebration of Sex: A Guide to Enjoying God's Gift of Sexual Intimacy, Douglas Rosenau purchase

Missiology
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Leslie Newbigin purchase
The Open Secret, Leslie Newbigin purchase
The Church Between Gospel and Culture, George Hunsberger purchase
The Christian Mission and Modern Culture, 6 Authors
The Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church, Darrell Guder purchase
Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper purchase
Planting Growing Churches, Aubrey Malphurs purchase
God is the Gospel, John Piper purchase
Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome, Rodney Stark purchase
Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, David Bosch purchase
The Church Between Gospel and Culture, George Hunsburger purchase
The Radical Reformission, Mark Driscoll purchase
Breaking the Missional Code, Ed Stetzer purchase

Pastoral Care
The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter purchase
The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson purchase
Five Smooth Stones For Pastoral Work, Eugene Peterson purchase
Working The Angles, Eugene Peterson purchase
Pastoral Ministry, John MacArthur purchase
Pastoral Counseling, John MacArthur purchase
The Unity Factor, Larry Osborne purchase
Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students, Charles Spurgeon purchase
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, John Piper purchase
The Stain that Stays: The Church's Response to the Sexual Misconduct of its Leaders, John Armstrong purchase

Preaching
Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, Graeme Goldsworthy purchase

Spiritual Disciplines
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Don Whitney purchase

Theology
Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem purchase
Integrative Theology, Gordon Lewis & Bruce Demarest purchase

Western Culture
Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert Putnam purchase
The Fourth Turning, William Strauss and Neil Howe purchase
The Cultural Creatives : How 50 Million People Are Changing the World, Sherry Ruth Anderson and Paul H. Ray purchase
Soul Searching, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton purchase

World Religions
Jesus Among other Gods, Ravi Zacharias purchase
Christianity at the Religious Roundtable, Tenent purchase

Worship
Unceasing Worship, Harold Best purchase
Worship in Spirit and Truth, John Frame purchase
Worship by the Book, DA Carson

Wisdom for Parents 8/31/05

2007-01-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

Wisdom for parents from Douglas Wilson's (author of many fine books) blog "Blog and Mablog". He gives us a sobering commentary on Pr 15:18.
_________________________________
A Slow Burn
Topic: Tang Tungled
It takes wisdom to understand the origins of strife. The Scriptures tell us that one source of strife is anger. "A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife" (Prov. 15:18). But often this is missed because the one who vents his anger succeeds in browbeating people into a lack of immediate response. A wife is emotionally clubbed and cudgeled for fifteen years before the strife finally appears. A father angrily badgers his children-provoking them to wrath--but often such a father doesn’t see his sin as the cause of the problem because his anger simply lit a long fuse. When the explosion happens years later, he does not see that it was many years of his wrath that stirred up the strife. In this proverb, we see two antithetical attitudes that represent two kinds of men--the foolish and the wise. The angry fool stirs up strife the way an industrious cook works over his pot. A wise man is slow to anger, and consequently is hard to draw into strife. In all this, of course, the tongue is central.

I've been tagged...

2007-01-19T19:33:00.000-08:00

Here’s how this tag works:

1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following 3 sentences
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag three people to do the same

OK here it goes:
"The term undulation in mathematics has a similar meaning to the up-and-down bends in the snakes body. For example, if an integer's digits are alternatively greater or less than the digits adjacent to them (consider 4,253,612) then the number is called an undulating integer. The term smoothly undulating integer refers to numbers whose adjacent digits oscillate as in 79,797,979." from Wonders of Numbers by Clifford A. Pickover.

I tag: Danny O, Marlow and Josh.

For more on undulants go here.

Missional Church

2007-01-19T06:13:00.000-08:00

I found a site that attempts to define the concept of missional church:

http://www.friendofmissional.org/

Sowing, Reaping and the Blues- 9/2/05

2007-01-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” - Gal 6:7

From an article in Credenda Agenda, here are a few words from Douglas Wilson on blues music. He points out that blues music often addresses the reality of life in a sinful world.
“It must also be remembered that the world of the blues is a world full of sin. But while it is a sinful place, it is not a relativistic place. The blues are one place where a man can be sure to reap what he sows (Gal. 6:7). In this respect, the blues are like traditional country music (as opposed to contemporary forms of rock, and some contemporary country). In both rock and country, everyone is a big fat sinner. But in country music, guilt is part of the picture, along with the consequences of sin. Not only is sin wrong, but it is also represented (consistently) the way Scripture represents it—which is to say, as foolish. The same thing is true of the blues. Sometimes the foibles of sin are mocked ("your husband is cheating on us"), and sometimes the understatement can be profoundly chilling. The inescapability of judgment is never far away, and the desire to evade it can be seen as lunacy.
If I had possession over judgment day,
If I had possession over judgment day,
All the women I'm loving would have no right to pray.
But, as the singer well knows, we don't have possession over judgment day. To this extent, the blues represent the world God made with a high degree of accuracy. And as Paul Butterfield put it, "ain't no one to blame but myself." - Douglas Wilson

Scandal- 10/04/05

2007-01-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting post from Douglas Wilson on how we can handle scandal in a wise way. Nobody hopes that scandals will arise within the walls of the church, but a mature perspective on Romans 7 accepts that from time to time scandal (sin) will rear its ugly head. But one of the greatest things about our God is that He takes what is intended for evil and uses it for good in the lives of His children. Praise Him for this, and may we learn how to handle scandal wisely when it comes.

Learning from Scandal

Rebelution-Revolution

2006-12-29T07:20:00.000-08:00

Another post from my other blog, with an update the follows:
______________________
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The Rebelution: A Lesson From The Vikings: Do Hard Things Here's a good post from Alex & Brett Harris on taking responsibility and doing hard things.
______________________
Here is an interesting article from George Barna's ministry on what they call Revolutionary Christians. The revolutionary sounds like a good description of a "viking" believer if you ask me.

Wisdom and the God's of the Copybook Headings

2006-12-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom."
-Charles Spurgeon

I have another blog called the The God's of the Copybook Headings. I stopped posting to it quite some time ago. The theme of the blog was Biblical wisdom. One of my greatest needs is to grow in wisdom and the blog was intended to be a scratch pad/storage place of wisdom tid-bits. being the fool I am, I let it fall by the way-side.

In the next few posts I will be migrating all my entries at Copybook over to this blog in order to consolidate the two. Here is the first:

06/14/05- I thought I should make a post of the poem from which I stole the title of this blog. The poem reminds me of Proverbs. The "Gods of the Copybook Headings" and the "Gods of the Market-Place" are analogues of the voices of Wisdom and Folly. I love how Kipling draws attention to the fact that there are always new teachings and "wisdom" out in the market-place of ideas, but they all eventually fall. Only true wisdom is timeless. Biblical wisdom is timeless.

************************************************************
The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers
I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us.
They showed us each in turn,
That Water would certainly wet us, as
Fire would certainly burn:

But we found them lacking in
Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the
Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed.
They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come,
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming,
They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed,
They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true,
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man,
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins,
Then all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as, Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.
Lord, I pray for your wisdom to come through me into this most unwise world we live in.

Amen

Ode to 11

2006-12-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a small tribute to my favorite number, 11. It is an 11th order magic square with a constant of 671 whose prime factors are 11 and 61.

2006-12-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

06/10/05 Proverbs 17:17"A freind loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity."The divine dictum of loyalty. In a society that honors and encourages individualism and self-sufficiency, the word loyalty has fallen from use. We describe dogs as loyal in a condescending way. How much do we see loyalty as an admirable characteristic for ourselves? Something to be learned...something to be sought after.In years gone by, values like loyalty were taught and encouraged by society. Among other means, poetry and prose were vital for envisioning people to be virtuous. One of my favorite passages that illustrates loyal comradery is from Shakespeare's play "Henry V". In the St. Crispian's Day speach King Henry rallies his men for battle:

"This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall see this day and live old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispin's:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in their mouths as household words
Harry the king, B
edford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot,
Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Freedom from Want

2006-11-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

And now, the last installment of the Four Freedoms series. In keeping with the spirit of Thanksgiving I present Rockwell's "Freedom from Want". Many people do not know what it means to experience this freedom. The recognition of God's bountiful grace to us in material prosperity was the driving force behind Lincoln's inauguration of the holiday. I read it at the dinner table yesterday. After hearing countless irreligious references to "Turkey Day" I wanted to remind myself and family of the day's original intent. Please find it reproduced below:

By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,Secretary of State

Happy Clappy Worship

2006-11-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

I like happy clappy worship. That's what one friend of mine calls contemporary Christian worship music. He says most contemporary worship lacks the depth of the old hymns. I hold that lyrics don't always need to be complicated or intricate to convey passion. In fact, sometimes our vocabulary stops short when our hearts are raptured by Gods' presence. In the following poem George Herbert says something akin to this, only much more eloquently.

A TRUE HYMN
Joy, my Life, my Crown !
My heart was meaning all the day,
Somewhat it fain would say,
And still it runneth muttering up and down
With only this, My Joy, my Life, my Crown !
Yet slight not those few words ;
If truly said, they may take part
Among the best in art :
The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords
Is, when the soul unto the lines accord.
He who craves all the mind,
And all the soul, and strength, and time,
If the words only rhyme,
Justly complains that somewhat is behind
To make His verse, or write a hymn in kind.
Whereas if the heart be moved,
Although the verse be somewhat scant,
God doth supply the want ;
As when the heart says, sighing to be approved,
"O, could I love !" and stops, God writeth, "Loved."

Freedom from Fear

2006-11-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

My previous posts of Norman Rockwell paintings are drawn from a four-part series he did for the Washington Post. The paintings were inspired by a speech given by president Roosevelt in 1941. In the speech FDR spelled out four freedoms he believed every person ought to have; freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. Here is the relevant excerpt:

In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression-- everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt,excerpted from the
Annual Message to the Congress,January 6, 1941

The Bible reveals that ultimately our destiny is controlled by the Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. Eph 1:11 says that he "works out everything in conformity to the purpose of his will" and Psalm 103:19 states "The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all". This is where true freedom from fear comes. For as well as we know Christ controls all things, we know that he is perfectly holy and good; beyond what we can imagine or contemplate (Ps 136:1 and Isa 55:8-9). I am looking forward the reign and government of our God when he "will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."

Freedom of Speech

2006-11-08T06:49:00.000-08:00

I'm a little disappointed at the election results. Even so, I'm thankful for the opportunity to vote and I'm committed to living with the outcome. It was impressive to go to the polls and take a look at all the people who turned out. There were young and old, people of all races, both white and blue collar, and so on. We are blessed to live in a country where all have a voice in politics. Here is another Rockwell painting which celebrates a similar freedom, the freedom of speech.

Election Day and Arrow's Impossibility Theorem

2006-11-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

Today is election day. This is a day when Americans can exercise the right to vote. What a great thing it is to be able to cast our ballots and have some input on who governs civil affairs! This of course is another "freedom" for which we can give thanks to God. Although our governmental system may not be perfect, I agree with Winston Churchill when he said,

"Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time."

Not perfect you say! What do you mean? Is not voting the only completely fair way to make decisions in a group? Well... no; not exactly. Recently I learned that no system of voting can ever be completely "fair". Fair, that is, according to a predetermined set of fairness criteria. Did you know there actually exists an entire field of study called the mathematics of voting (sometimes called Social Choice Theory)? You can check out some basic tenets here. One of the amazing things to come out of this field is Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. In 1952 Kenneth Arrow proved that there is no consistent method of making a fair choice among three or more candidates in any election.

A short perusal of the topic caused me to pause and wonder at the sovereignty of God. Just think about this: even in the best voting system man can derive, we can never be 100% fair in the decisions we make. This is a humbling thing to contemplate. At our best we are still at the mercy of God for the wisdom and knowledge we need to navigate life, both in a personal sense and in the corporate.

Our prayer then should be that God will guide these elections so that his glory will be revealed and his name be honored in the land. For we know that this and all other elections are under his sovereign government.

Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Religion"

2006-11-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

Religious Freedom

2006-10-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

With Veteran's Day coming up I thought I might make a few posts reflecting on the national freedoms we enjoy and for which countless Americans have fought and died to protect. For me, the most conspicuous and significant freedom I enjoy as both a Christian and an American is religious freedom. Below you will find a copy of Thomas Jefferson's amendment for religious freedom in the State of Virginia. This amendment came to pass prior to the Federal Constitutional amendment. The constitutional amendment was based on what you read below. I don't endorse Thomas Jefferson, but I post the amendment here as a reminder of why we practice religious freedom in this country. I have underlined phrases I find particulary thought provoking.

_______________________________________________

Statute of Religious Freedom

I. Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his almighty power to do; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right; that it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of the tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment; and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.

II. Be it enacted by the General assembly, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, not shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, that that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

III. And though we well know that this assembly elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act to be irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.

Shepherding Movement II

2006-10-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

There are many resources for information on the Shepherding Movement which are more detailed than I can provide here. This article from Wikipedia gives a good brief synopsis. As I mentioned in my previous post, I take the movement and its leadership to be a reaction to the mistakes and excesses found in the Charismatic Renewal. The renewal was a time when many people were experiencing the person and work of the Holy Spirit for the first time. Coming on the heels of the Jesus movement, evangelism was in vogue and the gospel was spreading quickly throughout the country. But it was also a time when many of these new converts were not being added to local churches. They were not being discipled in the faith; they had no leaders or shepherds. Consequently doctrinal and dogmatic errors were prevalent.

Several prominent charismatic teachers of the time saw a lack of discipleship, accountability, and community commitment in the culture of the Renewal. They bonded together around shared values and what emerged is what we call the Shepherding Movement.

In his book "The Shepherding Movement" S. David Moore gives a detailed description of the teachings which distinguished the movement. I was surprised by what I read. Many of these teachings reflect similar values we have in my home church. Here is some of what I learned:

The movement believed in the need for accountability and mutual submission between leaders. This belief led them to establish a "plurality of elders" model of polity between themselves. They believed that character and integrity were core to pastoral leadership. The teaching ministry formed by the "Ft. Lauderdale Five" (apostolic level leaders) was originally named the Holy Spirit Teach Ministry. Personal integrity was so central to their values they later changed the name to Integrity Communications. Integrity Communications produced teaching tapes and eventually started making worship and praise music tapes to go with the teaching. Their label was Hosanna Music. This arm of Integrity Communications was so popular it broke off into its own company and is what we know now as Integrity Music.

The movement valued relationships. They taught that the quality of life in the church should be extraordinary and be brought about primarily through relationships. They called relationships the "joints" of the body of Christ. After a time they began to speak of what they called "covenant relationships". Covenant relationships are ones in which the members of a church covenant with each other to remain in committed relationship despite conflicts or personal preferences. Many leaders under the influence of the Shepherding Movement renamed their churches to include the word covenant in them.

The author suggests that Charles Simpson was the main architect behind the movement. Toward the end of the book he gives a brief synopsis of what happened to the leaders after the disintegration of the movement. Simpson, he says, went on to continue pastoring the remnants of the movement as well as sustaining an influence on other ministry leaders. He explicitly names one such leader to be Larry Tomczak.

All in all, I find these things a fascinating to study. When I read about the movement�s leadership I was humbled and thankful. I was humbled by the earnest desire in these men to serve and please God. Observing how that strong desire did not ultimately come to the fruition they hoped to see is quite humbling. May God continue to bless the movements which are flourishing today (SGM and Acts29 among many others). I was also thankful to God for the wise leadership of SGM provided in CJ Mahaney. I believe CJ has endeavored to serve God with a humility and wisdom that is unique and effective.

Dei Gratia

Visionary vs. Directive Prophecy

2006-10-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have often heard and agree with the rubric, "Prophecy in the congregation should not be directive". This means that a scriptural exercise of the gift of prophecy is not used to give another person a directive as "from the Lord".

I agree; each believer should rely on the Spirit and supporting means of grace for guidance in life. Examples of supporting means of grace are: wise council, the Word, and personal subjective sense, but not prophecy.

However, I have one concern. What about "visionary" prophetic ministry? What's that you ask? I am using the term "visionary" to describe prophecy which God uses to build vision in His people. In my limited experience, I have seen prophetic words given by which the Spirit builds a desire in the congregation to be used by the Lord to accomplish His purposes. I am concerned that over emphasis on non-directive prophecy will filter out "visionary" ministry.

To further explain "visionary" prophecy a definition is appropriate. According to C.J. Mahaney, a vision is a picture of a preferable future. A vision touches us in a way that compels us to focus and renew efforts in the direction of that "preferable future". So then a "visionary" prophecy is one in which God gives His people some depiction of the future He has for them. I believe this kind of word can be given without being directive in nature.

Here is a practical example:
A directive word may sound something like this: "My people; go into community XYZ and establish a caregroup. There you will minister to the poor in that community."

A corresponding "visionary" word may sound like this: "My people; open your hearts to the work of my Spirit. I desire to use you to reach the lost and poor in your community! Through your obedient generosity I will magnify my name and draw people to myself and my people."

You can probably tell I'm not a prophet. I'm just trying to illustrate my point :-)

But, do you see the difference? What are your thoughts? What kind of impact could filtering out this type of word produce?

What covenant church ought to be:

2006-10-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

A Covenant Community

A community of God's redeemed people: bound together in covenant love, submitted to compassionate authority and rulership, and manifesting peace, holiness, and family fidelity expressed through revealed fatherhood, cherished woman and motherhood with secure and obedient children. A community where loving correction and instruction produces healthy growth and maturity; where dedication to excellence produces the finest results in arts, crafts, trade and commerce, providing prosperity and abundance for all its members. A community of faith, worship, praise and a selfless ministry, manifesting individually and corporately the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. A community where all life is inspired and directed by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and is lived to His glory as a witness and testimony to the world.

-written by Don Basham for New Wine Magazine, Feb 1980.

Computer Woes

2006-10-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting or replying to comments lately. Last weekend my hard drive went up. The only thing its good for now is a hockey puck. When I get back on -line I'll be posting more from "The Shepherding Movement". this was a great book and I highly recommend it anyone interested in leadership within the Charismatic movement.

Credible Prophetic Ministry

2006-09-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

Reading through "The Shepherding Movement" is stirring up the charismatic side in me. I never realized what a deep and profound influence the Shepherding Movement had on evengelicalism. In chapter 5 the author spends some time defining the core teachings of the movement. Although there is not a 100% correspondency, many of these teachings reflect the core values of my home church. It is really amazing to see this similarity.

The Shepherding Movement arose as a theological responce to the imbalances and immaturities that were prevalent during the Charismatic Renewal. Reading about the Charismatic Renewal and what God was doing in the church at that time is stirring me up to see God freshly pour himself out on his people.

In doing some research I have found a couple of interesting websites. Life on Wings is a tribute to one of the core Shepherding Movement leaders, Ern Baxter. This blog deals much with the teaching and values of the movement from an insider's point of view. Another is Prophetic Reformation which is a site run by Jon & Kerry Cressey who are a part of Terry Virgo's ministry New Frontiers. Their site is dedicated to bringing mature Christian praxis to the prophetic arena. Here is an example of what they have to say:

Credible prophetic ministry ::..

John Paul Jackson spoke volumes when he said that for so long the church had had incredible prophetic ministries - but what is needed is credible prophetic ministry. A nice play on words, but so true.

The people in our local church need to know our heart and our agenda,and feel safe with an understanding that we value Scripture with the highest regard and that we are accountable and submissive to leadership. Leaders need to know that when the going gets tough the prophets aren't going to go! The prophet Daniel went into captivity with his people, as did Jeremiah. We need to be seen as people committed to the local church, its government, its life and its future.

Light of the World

2006-09-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here is another famous painting from William Holman Hunt. I did a little bit of reading on his work. Some critics point out a theme of conversion, or what others call "sudden illumination", in his paintings. In this one, "Light of the World", the theme is obvious. In fact, Hunt even said the painting is a in depiction of his own conversion experience. Look back to the "Shadow of Death" and you can see the theme there as well.

2006-09-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Edgar Guest is what I call the Norman Rockwell of poetry. He seems to capture the essence God's goodness in everyday life. I laughed hard when I read the poem below. What parent with young children can't identify with this? Even though sometimes the dinner table can be a little hectic, there is no other place I would rather be at the end of my day. I thank God for this season of life, my children, and my wife.

The Perfect Dinner Table

A table cloth that's slightly soiled
Where greasy little hands have toiled;
The napkins kept in silver rings,
And only ordinary things
From which to eat, a simple fare,
And just the wife and kiddies there,
And while I serve, the clatter glad
Of little girl and little lad
Who have so very much to say
About the happenings of the day.

Four big round eyes that dance with glee,
Forever flashing joys at me,
Two little tongues that race and run
To tell of troubles and of fun;
The mother with a patient smile
Who knows that she must wait awhile
Before she'll get a chance to say
What she's discovered through the day.
She steps aside for girl and lad
Who have so much to tell their dad.

Our manners may not be the best;
Perhaps our elbows often rest
Upon the table, and at times
That very worst of dinner crimes,
That very shameful act and rude
Of speaking ere you've downed your food,
Too frequently, I fear, is done,
So fast the little voices run.
Yet why should table manners stay
Those tongues that have so much to say?

At many a table I have been
Where wealth and luxury were seen,
And I have dined in halls of pride
Where all the guests were dignified;
But when it comes to pleasure rare
The perfect dinner table's where
No stranger's face is ever known:
The dinner hour we spend alone,
When little girl and little lad
Run riot telling things to dad.

- from "A Heap O' Livin" by Edgar Guest

To Beth:

2006-09-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

My Lovely Wife

I pray that God will bless you
all the days of your life,
And thank Him for the day
that he made you my lovely wife.

From two He has made us
into one before Him now.
No matter what comes before us
He'll get us through somehow.

How can I tell you all the love
I have inside my heart for
You, the one who has brought
such joy into my life?

I know that God has blessed me
all the days of my life.
And thank him for the day
he made you my lovely wife.

- Russell

Colossians 3:3 by George Herbert

2006-09-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

COLOSSIANS III. 3.

OUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD.

MY words and thoughts do both express this notion,
That LIFE hath with the sun a double motion.
The first IS straight, and our diurnal friend :
The other HID, and doth obliquely bend.
One life is wrapt IN flesh, and tends to earth ;
The other winds t'wards HIM whose happy birth
Taught me to live here so THAT still one eye
Should aim and shoot at that which IS on high—
Quitting with daily labour all MY pleasure,
To gain at harvest an eternal TREASURE.

Written by George Herbert (1593- 1633)

Ontological Reflections

2006-09-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

The ontology of the church is an important issue. A wrong understanding of what the church is will lead to wrong dogmatics of church life. I'm glad I'm not the only person who has asked the question "What is a church?" Below I have posted part of a catechism written by John Robinson in 1642. Robinson was the pastor of the congregation which oversaw the launching of the Mayflower in 1620. In modern vernacular he was the "senior pastor" of the Pilgrim's "sending church". This catechism was written as a treatment on questions concerning church government, but it begins and has a lot to say on defining what exactly makes a church. I have only posted the first 9 questions here as they deal more directly with the topic than the rest. You may read it in its entirety here.

A CATECHISM BY THE REV. JOHN ROBINSON;

BEING AN APPENDIX TO THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION, GATHERED INTO SIX PRINCIPLES.

BY REV. WILLIAM PERKINS.

1642

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q.
1. What is the church?

A. A company of faithful and holy people, with their seed, called by the Word of God into pubic covenant with Christ and amongst themselves, for mutual fellowship in the use of all the means of God's glory and their salvation.

Q. 2. Of what sort or number of people must this company consist?

A. It is all one whether they be high or low, few or many; so as they exceed not such a number as may ordinarily meet together in one place for the worshipping of God and sanctification of the Lord's-day. Gal. iii. 28; Matt. xxviii. 17,19; 1 Cor. xi. 17,18,20, xiv. 23; Acts xx. 7.

Q. 3. What are the reasons why the church must consist of faithful and holy people?

A.
1. The Scriptures everywhere so teach. Levit. xx. 26; Rom. i. 7,8; 1 Cor. i. 2; Phil. i. 1-9.

2. The church is the body of Christ, all whose members, therefore, should be conformable in some measure to Him their Head. Eph. i. 22; Col. i. 18.

3. Only such worshippers please God, are accepted of him, and have the right to the covenant of grace and seals thereof. John iv. 23; Heb. viii. 8-10, &c.; Jude, ver. 1; Ezek. xliv. 7.

Q. 4. But are not hypocrites mingled with the faithful in the church?

A. None ought to be by the Word of God, and where such are, they are not truly added by the Lord to the church, but do creep in through their own hypocricy, and not without the church's sin also, if they may be discerned to be such.

Q. 5. By what means is the church gathered?

A. By the Word preached, and by faith received by them that hear it. Matt. xxviii. 19,20; Acts ii. 14, &c., xi. 19, xx. 21; Rom. i. 5; 1 Cor. xv. 1,2.

Q. 6. Is every believer a member of the visible church?

A. No; but he must also, by his personal and public profession, adjoin himself to some particular fellowship and society of saints. Acts ii, 41, 47, viii. 37, ix. 18.

Q. 7. How prove you the seed of the faithful to be of the church with them?

A. By the covenant which God made with Abraham and his seed, which was the covenant of the gospel, and confirmed in Christ; the seal thereof, circumcision, being the seal of the righteousness of faith. Gen. xvii. 7, &c.

Q. 8. What are the essential marks of the church?

A. Faith and order, as the church in them may be seen, and be held to walk in Christ Jesus, whom she hath received. Faith professed in word and deed, showing the matter to be true; and order in the holy things of God, showing the forms to be true; which are the two essential parts of the church. Gal. iii. 8, 16, 17; Rom. iv. 11; Col. ii. 5,6.

Q. 9. Are not the preaching of the Word and administering of the sacraments certain marks of the true church?

A. No, for the Word may, and that rightly, be preached to assemblies of unbelievers for their conversion, as may the sacraments also (though unjustly) be administered unto them, aman they will nd so be made lying signs. Besides, the true church may for a time want the use of divers ordinances of God, but hath always right unto them; as may also the false church usurp and abuse them, but without right. Matt. xxviii. 19; Acts xiv. 7,14, xvii. 22, &c.; Gen. xxxiv. 24, Shechemites; 2 Kings xvii. 25, &c.; Hos. i. 9.

Risk Taking for the right reasons

2006-08-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

Risk taking is admirable, but only when done for the right reasons. That’s what I come away with when I look at the life of Joe Kittinger. “Who’s that?” you say? Get a load of this … Kittinger holds the record for the highest parachute jump in history. Leaping from a helium balloon at 102,800 ft on August 16, 1960 Kittinger fell for an astounding four and a half minutes before deploying his chute at 20,000 ft. To get an idea of how high that is you should know that most geostationary weather satellites orbit at 120,000 ft. (imagine riding on a weather satellite and then jumping off!). Consequently he is also the only man in history to have broken the sound barrier (761 mph) without a craft or ship of any kind! AAAHHHHGGGG!

As an Air Force Captain he made the jump as a test participant in Project Excelsior which means "ever upward". You have to watch this clip to get an idea of what it must have been like. Ever since his record setting jump people have been trying to break it, but as far as I know no one has been successful.

Talk about risk! Remember he made this jump in 1960. That’s 46 years ago, before modern computers, and technology (even before Blogger). But what really impresses me about Kittinger comes from the transcript of a brief interview he gave several years ago. In the interview Kittinger is asked what he thought about attempts to break his record. This was his response:

“We did it for aircrews and astronauts--for the learning, not to set a record. They will be going up as skydivers!? Somebody will beat the record someday. Records are made to be busted. And I'll be elated. But I'll also be concerned that they're properly trained. If they're not, they're taking a hell of a risk!”

Kittinger did indeed have training; he made over 100 previous jumps from high altitude balloons. The risk he took was a calculated risk. He and many others worked extremely hard to mitigate that risk. And as far as fruit from the risk, Kittinger's feat demonstrated that a simple pressure suit was adequate to protect astronauts in space, and that it is possible to eject at extreme altitudes and survive. Joe Kittinger is an example of a man who took great risks for the right reasons.

A Sword Will Pierce Your Own Soul

2006-08-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful painting by William Holman Hunt called The Shadow of Death (1873). Whenever I look at it I think of the following passage. It makes me wonder what it must have been like for Mary.

Luke 2:33-35 33

"The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Just for Fun!: Solution

2006-08-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

OK, here's my solution to the dice problem:

In order to get a better grasp on the problem I made a chart of all the possible outcomes of the throw. The column numbers are the outcome of the first die and the row numbers are the outcome of the second die. X's at intersections indicate a possible outcomes with a 1 or 6 showing. If you count X's and divide by the total number of possible outcomes (36) you get: 20/36 which is ~55%.

The probability of a 1 and 6 can be found the same way. The number of X's showing a 1-6 combination is only 2, so the odds are 2/36. That is ~6% chance. Big difference!

That's my best guess anyway. What do you think?

Poems and "My Prayer"

2006-08-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

I spent the day enjoying being with my family and taking some much need Sabbath rest. Days like today are always good poetry days. It seems the older I get, the more I enjoy good poetry. But it’s a form of literature seldom valued today, especially by men. That’s a shame because contrary to popular belief, good poetry can be very masculine. Read this quote by Douglas Phillips author of Poems for Patriarchs:

“One reason men lack vision is because they lack poetry in their lives. Men no longer sing or recite inspirational verse. Ours boys are no longer required to memorize the great psalms, hymns, and poems of Christian manhood. This should come as no surprise. The 20th century has wreaked havoc upon chivalry and manhood…But poetry is essential to a man’s life. We should never forget that God chose communication through the language of poetry. A large portion of scripture from the Psalms to the Song of Solomon- even the book of Isaiah in the original language- was written in verse. Why? Because poetry and song allow us to use the beauty of language to paint mental images of victory, of devotion, and the beauty of life in Jesus Christ.”

With that I will leave you with the poem I found so very helpful today.

My Prayer

Father, today I bring to Thee
This boy of mine whom Thou hast made.
In everything he looks to me,
In turn, I look to Thee for aid.

He knows not all that is before;
He little dreams of hidden snares.
He holds my hand, and o’er and o’er
I find myself beset with fears.

Father, as this boy looks to me
For guidance, and my help implores,
I bring him now in prayer to Thee;
He trusts my strength, and I trust Yours.

Hold Thou my hand as I hold his,
And so guide me that I may guide.
Teach me, Lord, that I may teach,
And keep me free from foolish pride.

Help me to help this boy of mine.
To be to him a father true,
Hold me, Lord, for everything
As fast as I hold my boy for You.

- Nauzon W. Braphamm

Just for Fun!

2006-08-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

I meet with a group of guys once a month for mutual encouragement and accountability. We always enjoy rich fellowship in God during these times. Of course once in a while it's good to just have a little fun. Last time we got together I posed this question as we were waiting for ladies group to finish praying:

I have a pair of dice in my hand. I cast the dice on the ground. What is the probability that a 1 or 6 will be showing?

As we talked it over I considered the problem slightly more challenging than I originally thought.

Any takers on a solution? I'll post mine later.

...And therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence...

2006-08-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the theme of arctic explorers and the leadership lessons gleaned from their lives I am posting a letter here written by Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Captain Scott led his second Antarctic Expedition in 1910 with the hopes of being the first man to the South Pole. Two years after his start, Scott and four others- Wilson, Bowers, Oats, and Evans- reached the South Pole, only to find that the Norwegian explorer Amundson had preceded them by a scant thirty-five days. It was a total surprise as Amundson had kept his destination a secret, claiming he was attempting to reach the North Pole. He reached the South Pole on December 14th, 1911. When Scott reached the site he found Amundson’s tent still uncovered by the drifting snow. After this great discouragement, Scott and his men began their seven-hundred mile journey home. It was a journey they never completed.

Here are some of Scott’s journal entries toward the end of his trial:

March 3rd Scott wrote in his diary, “God help us, we can’t keep up this pulling that is certain. Amongst ourselves were are unendingly cheerful, but what each man feels in his heart I can only guess.” Evans died shortly thereafter.

March 10th- “With great care, we might have a dog’s chance, but no more.”

March 16th- “…assuredly the end is not far.”…The next day Oats walked out alone into a blizzard to die “rather than be a drag on his comrades.” His last words were, “I am just going outside and may be sometime.”

March 29th- “It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more. R. Scott. …P.S. For God’s sake, look after our people.”

Eight months later their bodies were found by a search party, within 15 miles of the nearest supply camp. They died in their sleeping bags, half buried in snow. Beside were all their scientific records of the polar trip as well as letters to various people. Included in those letters was the following message to the public of Britain. It is a timeless record of elemental courage.

“The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organization, but to the misfortune in all risks which had to be undertaken.
1. The loss of pony transport in March 1911 obliged me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits of stuff transported to be narrowed.
2. The weather throughout the outward journey, and especially the long gale in 83°S., stopped us.
3. The soft snow in lower reaches of glacier again reduced pace. We fought these untoward events with a will and conquered, but it cut into our provision reserve.

Every detail of our food supplies, and depots made on the interior ice-sheet and over that long stretch of 700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out to perfection. The advance party would have returned to the glacier in fine form and with a surplus of food, but for the astonishing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail. Edgar Evans was thought the strongest man of the party.

The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather, but on our return we did not get a single completely fine day; this with a sick companion enormously increased our anxieties.

As I have said elsewhere, we got into frightfully rough ice and Edgar Evans received a concussion to the brain- he died a natural death, but left us a shaken party with the season unduly advanced.

But all the facts above enumerated were as nothing to the surprise which awaited us on the Barrier. I maintain that our arrangements for the return were quite adequate, and that no one in the world would have expected the temperatures and surfaces which we encountered at this time of the year. On the summit in lat. 85° 86° we had -20°, -30°. On the Barrier lat. 80° 10,000 feet lower we had -30° in the day, -47° at night pretty regularly, with continuous headwind during our day marches. It is clear that these circumstances come on very suddenly, and our wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather, which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause. I do not think human beings ever came through such a month as we come through, and we should not have gone through in spite of the weather but for the sickening of a second companion, Captain Oates, and the shortage of fuel in our depots for which I cannot account, and finally but for the storm which has fallen on us within 11 miles of the depot at which we hoped to secure our final supplies.

We arrived within 11 miles of our old One Ton Camp with fuel for one last meal and food for two days.

For four days we have been unable to leave the tent- the gale howling about us. We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last. But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honor of our country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend upon us are properly cared for.

Had we lived, I should have a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see that those who are dependant on us are properly provided for.
-R. Scott