Jesus loves me when I'm a jerk too...

So I was a big jerk yesterday. No two ways about it.

There's an old story about a grandfather and grandson. The grandson has a tendency toward harsh words. The grandfather notices this character flaw and decides to work a little cowboy wisdom. Fetching some nails and a hammer from the shed, they head out to pasture where a new corner post has been put in the fence row. The post is of new lumber, barley weathered, untouched except the signs of being hewn and debarked. "Take this...", grandpa says, extending the hammer to the boy, "and drive these nails into that post as hard as you're mad." The young boy begins to furiously hammer nail after nail into the post, teeth grinding, white knuckled, the hammer meeting his thumb and fore finger more than once. "There!" says the boy, somewhere between bewildered and accomplished. Staring at nowhere, grandfather then says, "Now, pull them out." Flabbergasted, the boy shrieks, "All of 'em! But you just...", "Yes. Let's get started..." grandfather interrupts.

One by one, the lad pulls the nails. They were; of course, harder to remove than they were to drive. Then, once finished, the boy stepped back, and the pair examined their handiwork. "Well son, what do you think?" "About what?", asked the boy exhausted and exasperated. "How's that post faring?" "Well..." started the boy, "It looks ugly, full of holes... and I feel bad about that... but I didn't mean to mess it up!" From which the grandfather calmly said, "Just like those nails, that's what words do. Once you drive them in, you can take them back, but the damage is done still the same."

At times, life compresses us. Our responsibilities, our voluntary mandantories, our fears, our collapsed hopes, they push.us to the brink. Jesus taught us that the words of our mouth come from the treasure stored up in our heart. That is to say that when life puts the squeeze on us, whatever is in us comes out. Then, there is no denying it. Salt water doesn't come out of a freshwater spring. The painful truth is that after 18 years of being saved, after all the healing and restoration and renovation God has brought me through, there is still a lot of ugly stuffed down in the cracks and crevaces of my heart.

This makes me thankful for the gracious forgivenss of my family. But also the grace of God through Jesus Christ that washes away my sins.

So, once again, I'm sorry for demonstrating first hand how I am.not holier than thou.

And once again, I'm thankful.

Fruitful Discussion of Eden et. al.

You know that Biblical scholarship has finally snuck its way out of the ghetto when you see articles on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR et. al. concerning topics ranging from the Second Coming to articles like this from CNN concerning Biblical (il)literacy in America.

From time to time we see blips on the radar, but most often at predictable times: i.e. Easter (always a great time for that 'exciting' new 'finding' that proves once and for all that Jesus fathered nine children with his three different wives...), or Christmas (see you idiots; they say, Jesus was born in 7 BC, clearly you religious people know nothing...).

What excites me is when the discussions move past sensationalism to earnest searching. I am always glad to have an honest, open, transparent conversation with someone concerning matters of faith.

On one hand the Apostle Paul warns against this sort of thing, endless debating and such:

so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, 4 nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith, 1 Tim 1:3-4 (NASB)

However, the very next verses are also informative:

5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 1 Tim 1:5-7 (NASB)

The CNN article makes its own point: "It is hard to argue when you don't know what you are talking about". If we are going to say that the Bible is the standard for faith and practice, then we had better know what we are talking about so that we can "rightly divide the word of truth".

Otherwise we just end up being divisive for no good cause.

I hope these conversations keep going. I am thrilled anytime that someone opens up their Bible to see if something that someone talked about at a press conference is really there. Perhaps some of us should practice the same due diligence. Think of the Bereans, who after Paul had performed many miracles, and had all the clout you could imagine, still had the audacity (or was it integrity!?) to check him out against the Scriptures.

Let us do the same, so that we may be prepared to give an answer to all who ask (1 Pt 3:15) since these discussions will be going on for a long, long time. This gives us many opportunities to make these discussions "fruitful".

One of the Two Sure Things in Life

Today Edith Shain died. Who? Edith Shain, the nurse in the famous V-Day kiss photo. Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped the photo on V-J Day (Aug 14, 1945, the day victory over Japan was declared) for Life magazine.

Photography, indeed film of all kind, has been said to have the psychological effect of projecting immortality. For instance, recently, students were polled on whether or not Marilyn Monroe was alive or dead; many students were certain that she was alive. It goes to show you the power of media in general.

As such, the news that the gorgeous brunette nurse in the photo here was dead produced a slight glitch in my system. People in pictures don't die. Right?

Just another reminder that the grisly Reaper is still mowing, and that eventually, he'll find his way to my pasture. Let us remember this fact, and let us also know that while death is certain, that our eternity is not, unless we enter it with Christ.

Until then.

Souls for Sale

The selling of a soul is more subtle than sudden. The transaction takes place through a series of small compromises, of saying "My will be done" instead of "Thy will be done", until one day we look into the mirror and we don't recognize who we see. 

Healing for Broken Hearts

Last night a terrible accident took the life of a dear woman in our community and put a friend of mine in the hospital (it is a wonder he survived). These folks are both members of the church I pastor. 

I got home at 4:30 AM last night, I am so tired, but I know that my weariness pales in comparison to the sorrow those who knew Dianne are feeling right now. All last night, and all day today, this song has been repeating in my head, over, and over, and over, and over... It has helped me so much. My hope is that wherever you are, and whatever life has thrown at you, this song will help lift you up. 

Please pray for the familes effected by these tragic events, and for our community and church to wrap our arms around them. As I am so often reminded, the Gospel is more than something we read, it is something that we are, and that we do. 

Amen.

Learning What This Means:

9 But he said to me, ?My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.? Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor 12:9-10 (ESV)

Grace

You see, grace is funny like that. She invites people to the party that you never would.

Everything I Needed to Know About Grace...

I learned from Carrie Prejean (and Micheal Phelps):

What do the almost winner of Miss America and the man who snagged the most ever gold medals in the OlympReicst have in common?

The same thing we all do... are you ready? A PAST. (*cue eerie music...*)

Prejean brought more attention to herself with her (in)famous comments about same sex marriage (a surprise answer if the transition on the questioner's face tells us anything) than from her ascethic qualities. 

But recently has found herself in the eye of a storm for apparently violating contest rules by not disclosing a set of semi-nude photos she took as a budding model.

Not too long ago, parents all over the world were freaking out when photos of Micheal Phelps with a bong surfaced. He had more integrity than Slick Willy when he confessed to having inhaled, but still, this stained his image as a role model.

My point? Well, I have a few:

#1 No one should be put on a pedestal: I am surprised at the number of Christians who cheer on Prejean for her anti-same sex marriage stance and ignore that she makes her living taking semi-nude photos.

Seriously, could we call the "sports wear" portion of the competition anything other than "semi-nude"?

So now that something from her PAST has been revealed, will the WMU ladies jettison one who was heralded as a woman brave enough to speak her mind instead of taking the easy road of political correctness?

#2 Get over it. Raise your hand if you don't have an embarresing photo of yourself somewhere that you hope NEVER SURFACRES. (Now, the other two of you, go repent for lying.) On the other hand, maybe no one was slick enough to catch you in the act, BUT... everyone makes mistakes. That is why Christ died for us.

Romans 3:23 puts it out plain as day: "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

It doesn't take a Greek scholar to know that 'all' in that passage means "ALL". So then, why does it surprise us if someone makes a gaffe, a fumble, or gets caught in downright sin (now there's a word you won't likley find in the PC lexicon...)

So then when do we do?

We can:

A: point our finger and take the focus off our own shortcomings

B: forgive and restore.

I will pick option B. And here is why.

The world sees forgiveness as being equal to being a sucker, a pushover. Yet GOD sent his SON JESUS CHRIST to RECONCILE us to Himself. In other words, GOD IS IN THE RESTORATION BUSINESS.

When we fail, Paul says that we are to:

    5 If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent--not to put it too severely. 6 The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. 7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 9 Thereason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 10 If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if there was anything to forgive--I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, 11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

2 Cor 2:5-11 (NIV)

So Carrie, and Micheal. Seeing as we now live in the PRESENT and what you have done was in the PAST, we forgive you. The punishment inflicted by the majority is more than enough. Since I know you are both avid followers of my blog, you are absolved. But don't ever do something that stupid again.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

And if We Know Him...

In The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis wrote, "And if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces."

Indeed. One way that my relationship with God differs from all other relationships is that in most friendships, the more I get to know someone, the more comfortable I am with them. The more approachable they seem. Not so with God. 

While on one level He indeed becomes more approachable through Christ; the alternate aspect is evident that the more I know about Him the following occurs. First, I find that I know much less than I thought. Secondly, I wonder how He would even have fellowship with me at all (What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Ps. 8:4) And indeed, who are we? We are nothing, that is, nothing of merit. We are only special because by God's soveriegn design we are the capstone of Creation. He has set us apart as His own. He has redeemed us. He has allowed us to come to Him by making a Way through His Son Jesus. Oh what a great God we serve. 

So then, when we wish to draw near to Him, we are to do so humbly. To confess as Isaiah that we are undone, that we are unclean, except that He was bound up our wounds, and the has cleaned us with His holiness. So we stand in the tension between two great truths, our depravity and His mercy that makes us acceptable before Him. 

And here I stand. Amen. 

All I Can Say is WOW

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span ,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?

Isaiah 40:12 (NASB)