Archive for March, 2007
Guided by the Spirit?
March 15th, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Christian Living, Worth Reading
This post by Bryan Riley on the topic of living a life guided by the Holy Spirit is definitely worth reading. Great discussion!
Check it out when you get a chance.
Shortsightedness
March 14th, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Devotions / Bible Studies
In looking over the Scripture passages I’ll be teaching in Sunday School this weekend, I found myself laughing a bit over the following passage from John 13…
John 13:31-38
31When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.33My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
37Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
I know you’re wondering… what could I possibly find entertaining about Jesus predicting Peter’s denial? To be honest, it’s not a funny passage. However, I find myself chuckling a bit about Peter’s exercise in missing the point.
Check out verses 33-38 again to see what I mean. Jesus tells his disciples he’ll only be with them a little while longer, and that they can’t come where he’s going. He then gives them a command. How does Peter respond? Not in response to Christ’s command to love one another, as he has loved them. Not in response to His instruction that all men will know we’re His disciples by our love for one another. But… “where are you going?”… “why can’t I go too?”. I can only imagine the big sigh that Jesus must let out over Peter’s shortsightedness and selfishness… how He must have been shaking His head over having to discuss the whole topic of His imminent departure instead of His command to love one another… the kind of tone that was apparent in His voice as He informed Peter of his upcoming denials.
It’s kind of humorous to me how shallow Peter seemed to be here.
Here’s the sad part, though. If we’re honest with ourselves, we all find ourselves in Peter’s shoes more frequently than we’d like to admit… unable to focus on those things God really needs us to, simply because we’re too shortsighted or selfish to see what’s really important… spending tons of time struggling over silly details only remotely related to the real task God has laid on our hearts to do… not fulfilling God’s purposes because we’re distracted by minutia.
I laugh over Peter’s situation because in reality… I see it in my life as well. Perhaps it’s more comfortable to laugh at my shortsightedness than to acknowledge and grieve over the disappointment and frustration it has caused God?
You Matter to God
March 13th, 2007 | 2 Comments | Posted in » Devotions / Bible Studies
I saw this on a window sticker on someone’s vehicle this morning on the way to work, and have to say, it really struck me as important this morning. Not that’s it’s something I didn’t already know… but I guess it’s something I needed to have repeated to me. Anyway, the window sticker simply said…
You matter to God.
Four words… a very simple statement… but one that’s mind boggling.
Out of everything God has created… with everything going on in the entire universe… with so many things that would seem to be more important going on that you’d think would hold God’s attention… we matter to God. What’s more? It’s not just that we matter to Him in some sort of generic, non-specific way… but He’s interested in every detail of our lives… He knows everything about us (to the very number of hairs on our heads)… He knows everything we’re struggling with… He knows everything we want and need… He knows just how to comfort us… He knows it all. We matter to Him, not just enough that He’d be aware of all these things… but that He actively works in our lives each day, guiding us and directing us… that He knew our spiritual need, and despite the unbelievably precious cost… He willingly gave His only Son to die for our sins.
You matter to God. I matter to God.
Dwell on that thought for a bit today. Amazing, isn’t it?
Confessions, Reviewed…
March 8th, 2007 | Comments Off | Posted in » Books, My Life / Family
Almost two months ago, I received an invitation to review Patty Kirk’s book, “Confessions of an Amateur Believer”. When I accepted the invitation and received the book, I thought this would be a piece of cake… two weeks, tops. After a blazing start, reading the first few chapters in a couple nights… I hit a wall of conflicting priorities, and the book review dropped toward the bottom of my nightly to-do list.
Now, some might consider this experience and conclude that the problem must have resided with the book, but I must tell you… that’s about as far from the truth as one can get.
To be completely honest, I was captivated by Ms. Kirk’s intensely personal writings. Her life experience, as communicated in her book, was something I could relate to… as a former Catholic… as one who simply stopped believing in God for a portion of my life… as one who wrestled with God before coming back(?) to faith… as one who still wrestles with how faith plays out in life… as one who eventually discovered the peace and rest that is enabled by truly trusting Christ. Simply put… it’s powerfully written.
Be aware, however, that this book certainly isn’t perfect. It’s a bit hard to follow at times… being somewhat random as it’s basically a collection of journal-like devotions grouped according to four phases of Ms. Kirk’s faith journey: “Meeting God”, “Struggling”, “Progress”, and “Rest”. But there’s an important message that continually shines through… a message that, as far as I’m concerned, makes this a very good read. That message, as put by Ms. Kirk, is this:
… it is all right to doubt — that to doubt is to seek, and to seek is to hope, and to hope urgently, insistently, with certainty, is to have all the faith we need in order to survive whatever lies ahead.
Basically? It’s alright to be an amateur believer.
Here’s the deal. If you’re one that’s been a believer for as long as you can remember… one that’s always been in church, always believed in God, never really struggled with your faith… this is a must read for insight into the lives of those for whom faith has not come easily. If, on the other hand, you’d count yourself with Patty Kirk as an amateur believer… you’ll almost undoubtedly find something here with which you’ll relate.
All said from this amateur book reviewer? It makes my recommended reading list!
Worth Reading…
March 5th, 2007 | 6 Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues, Worth Reading
If you’ve followed the recent controversy stemming from Roger Moran’s lambasting of the emergent church, you’ll probably be interested in Don Hinkle’s editorial in the MBC Pathway regarding the situation and the response in the blogging world.
While I appreciate Don’s concern for accountability (yes, many people online did cross the line with some of their statements), I find myself wondering… is he concerned in the same manner with any of Mr. Moran’s statements? Others have details (see this, this, and this), but Mr. Moran makes some very misleading (if not flat out false) statements and I don’t see any of those being called out in Don’s editorial.
Anyway, Paul Littleton addresses both nicely here, in his post “Six Degrees of Separation”. Worth reading, if you ask me.
(BTW… two things… yes, I’m slow in getting this up, for obvious reasons if you look at my previous posts, and yes, I too share some concerns about the emerging church movement.)
Just a Few More…
March 4th, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in » My Life / Family, Pictures
Alright… I can’t resist… I’ve gotta share a few more pictures from the past few days since Allison’s birth.
Jeffrey and Jenna helped with a little welcome home poster (there’s just something very cool about kids’ art!)…
Allison seemed thrilled to be home… 
Here’s Jeffrey, beaming about being a big brother…
Jenna is pretty excited too…
(BTW… I know some of you are probably wondering when I’ll be back to my regular programming. I promise… it’s coming soon, maybe even tonight if I can find the energy.)
All Allison, All the Time…
March 2nd, 2007 | 4 Comments | Posted in » My Life / Family, Pictures
What can I say… she’s a beautiful (and willing) subject…
Here’s a few more photos of Allison Grace…
