I am still alive and kicking

Alright, so I really stink at this whole BLOG thing. I post once every 6 or 7 months. I keep saying that it will change, but it hasnt yet. I guess that we will all have to wait and see if I can actually change this habit of mine. I do have a question that will most likely not be read by anyone because no one is expecting anything to be posted here. I will post it anyway and assume that people will be curious and check eventually. So, I have started training for a triathalon (dont ask what puts these ideas in my mind). The fact that I have something that I am training for is really helping me excercise on a regular basis. It is interesting to talk with people about it because everyone usually makes the same comment. They say, "I want to train for one...when are WE racing?" I have to be honest. I usually think "yeah right...I will believe it when I hear that you have been training 3 weeks from now." So the secret is out...I dont believe any of you! I am not sure if Iwill even find a race (although I am shooting for a November race). I was recently thinking, at what point can you refer to yourself as a Triathalete? Am I considered a triathalete after one race or just for simply training for one on a regular basis? I think that the criteria should be a little stricter before we can just assume the title "TRIATHALETE" (I dont even know if this word exists). Let me just suggest that you must compete in more that three triathalons per year, and actually perform in a competitive nature. If I get last every time and really just jog the thing, can I really call my self a triathalete or should I jsut say that I was out for a swim, bike, and a jog while other athletes were racing? I think that we should be careful about the use of the title "triathalete." To claim the title triathalete without paying the price in races and training brings the accomplishments of true triathalets down to the level of the average American couch potato and I refuse to desecrate such hard work and effort.

The infamous asterisk

Well, I dont know if any of you remember or even care, but this past new years I decided to make a New Year resolution. You might be wondering what would drive me to such stupidity. Well, let me tell you. I have never made one of those pesky things and I decided I wanted to see if I could actually do something for a year. I chose to refrain from soda and sweet tea for a year. Did I mention the fact that it is supposed to be a whole year? Well, I recently ran into a little snag, and I think that it needs to be discussed. I have gone strong and stayed away from all soda. It has not been on my lips. I went to great lenghts and refused a desire for an IBC rootbeer or a Dr Pepper. This past week we had a reception for Nathan and Casey, and I got myself a little bit of punch. After a sip I decided that it was too strong and I threw it away. A few minutes later I watch them refill the punch bowl with several ingredients, one of which was ginger ale (that would be a soda). So here is the question, have a I blown it. It is game over as far as the resolution goes? Do I keep going, but simply put an asterisk in the record books? The dilema continues. Now I realize that I havent blogged anything in so long that no one will probably even look at this, but that is OK. Let me know what you think.

God's Unfaithful Wife

I just finished reading a book called "God's Unfaithful Wife," and it was remarkable. The book walked through the theme of spiritual adultery in the Bible. All that I can say is that I am stirred and troubled in a very good way. It is so easy to forget the fact that I am Christ's Bride...His lover...His love. I am in a exclusive relationship with Jesus, and there is no other room for competition. I have been joined with Christ spiritually in a similar way to the way a husband and wife are joined physically. I feel nervous even typing this because it seems that it needs to have a holy mystery about it that I want to walk carefully around. I am joined with Christ. Having said this it is unacceptable for me to drawn to any other love...to any other satisfaction...to even flirt with it. The picture of God as a spurned lover, married to an ungrateful adulterous women who constantly spurns her husband to seek illicit relationships with any other common man that comes by is sickening to my stomach; but that is written in the Bible very graphically. I then find myself asking if my heart as wondered from my Love? Am I tempted to have illicit relationships with other loves? Am I an unfaithful wife? I feel the tension between being involved in this world (being salt and light) and cheating on my Heavenly spouse. My heart flirts with other loves like money, comfort, lust, pride, self, ego, image, apathy, and so much more. I see myself at times having my mind shaped more by TV, movies, culture than by Christ. At what point is this wrong? I dont know. I then look at the American Church and say that she is the Bride of Christ. I am part of her...God loves her...I love her; but there are some questions that we need to be asking ourself. Are we still in love with our Groom? Have other things crept in that are stealing our intimacy with our Lover? Are we flirting with other loves? Are we doing more than flirting...Are we chasing ever other man that comes along? Reading through parts of Ezekiel, Hosea, and Revelation I am appaled at how angry, gracious, tender, furious, and relentless God's love is. 2 Cor. 11:2 says, "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him." Paul goes on to say that he is afraid that they might be deceived and stray away from a "sincere and pure devotion" to Christ. I dont want to stray...I dont want to wander. I want to have that untainted heart, mind, and soul when I meet Christ. That is one of the beautiful things about Christ's redemptive work...He redeems even my adulterous heart.

The Breath of God

Life is so fast and hurried. It seems that things continue to buzz and whirl around me; distracting, pressuring, and rushing me. These things easily distract, and as we eliminate these distractions, five more appear to replace it. All of these things make noise and cry out for my attention, but the thing I need the most is the thing I neglect quickest. I cant tell you how many times I have felt God stirring my heart for time with Him...a stirring for some time of quiet undistracted attention...but I am quickly pulled away to a movie, time with friends, church, and even studying to teach a lesson. I miss those intimate times with God, and have begun to wonder why I am so quickly walking away. So, I took some time to look at some verses and something has recently stood out. In 2 Tim 3:16 it says that "All scripture is inspired and is profitable..." The word inspired simply means that it is "God breathed." There are a lot of implications in this word; like that He created it, it has His authority; it is exactly what He wants it to be. These are all things that we would agree with, but I think that there is something else that can and should be added to this. I am assuming that we have all been taught about personal bubbles. By personal bubble, I mean the space that surrounds us that very few people can enter into. We are comfortable with strangers as long as they are a certain distance away. None of us want a complete stranger to be 2 inches from our face while they are talking with us. The better we know someone, the closer to us they can come when we are talking. Have you ever had someone so close that you could feel there breathe when they spoke to you? That is a very intimate space, very few are allowed there...it should probably only be for a husband and wife. Can you picture God communicating to you so closely that you can feel His breath? That is exactly what the Bible is. While God reveals Himself generally through many ways, He specifically and intimately uses the Word of God. I haven’t been viewing the Bible like that lately. It has turned into a book I read. The wonder of it, the intimacy of it, the difficulty of it all seem to have faded. Why? It hasn’t changed. It is alive (Hebrews says that it is living and powerful). My heart has grown dull and calloused. I have wandered off. But the breath of God is as close as the Scriptures.

The abuse of words

I have enjoyed the discussion on the last blog entry, but I do have something that probably won’t produce much discussion, but I need somewhere to vent it. I am about to share a pet peeve of mine. I really don’t like it when I hear people use words in Greek or Hebrew so make them sound like they know what they are talking about...when in reality they are abusing the words. This might be boring to some of you but please bear with me as I make a quick point. A lot of times I hear people making huge distinctions between words in the Greek and deriving huge theological conclusions from those differences. I came across one recently and despite the risk of offending anyone I am still going to use it as an example. Someone was trying to demonstrate the difference between the Greek word rhema and logos. Those are often both translated word in the New Testament. They are two different words as you can tell from the spelling, and there is a slightly different nuance to those words. I will concede these two points, but they are so similar they could almost be considered synonyms. Let me give you an example in English. What would you do if someone was in a discussion and you said that you had an idea. As you were explaining that idea to the person you also referred to the idea as a thought. At this point the person stops you and tells you that they are confused because you are using thought and idea interchangeable and they are two different words. You would think they were an idiot (I would anyways). Yes, the words thought and idea are two different words with different nuances in meaning, but they are so similar that they can be used interchangeably. To force a huge distinction on the words would not make sense. Let me get to my point. Why is it that we think it is acceptable to do that with Bible Words? There are times when the distinction is important and the words do have significantly different implications, but not always. I guess that I wanted to throw the thought out there that just because someone throws Greek words around doesn’t mean that you have to accept all of it. While you may not know Greek, feel free to come and ask me and I can lead you to some resources that can help (For example Strong's concordance or Young’s Analytical Concordance). I would even be willing to look up the words for you in a Greek dictionary and let you read the difference in meaning yourself. Sorry that I vented, but it was really bugging me and I had to get it off my chest. I guess I would summarize it in one quick point by saying, We need to be careful with Scripture to make sure that we are not twisting it or abusing it.

An annoying question

I have a question. I probably shouldnt be asking it here in this format, but I am going to. Let me give you a warning: the following discussion my cause frustration...if you are concerned abou this then do not continue reading. There, I have warned you. My purpose here is to start a discussion. I want to hear your answers to this question that has recently started bothering me. The question is simply what does it mean when we raise our hands in worship? I do want to set a few parameters for this discussion. I dont really want to hear what you it means to you. I dont really care what it means to you (no offense); I want to know what it means...I want truth not subjectivity. If you can use Scripture that would be great, or if you have heard explanations that made sense feel free to share. I do want to say that I dont have a problem with raising hands, but a little while ago I ran into a bit of a problem. I realized that I didnt understand what I was doing. I didnt know why I was doing it. I found myself asking that if I was never to have seen anyone ever do that, would I have been able to come to that activity on my own with just the Scriptures...and if I never came to that conclusion would I be missing out on some part of deeper and more significant worship because of missing it. The reason that question bothered me is because I realized that I could have found yet another thing that I do in my life that is just parroting what I have seen others do, and never really questioned its purpose or meaning. 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 says, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." Notice that the last phrase that we sing with our spirit and our mind. The point is simply that once again I found myself participating in mindless worship (by mindless I mean without understanding or a personal knowledge of). That isnt acceptable. I also want to say that I hope that this thought doesnt hinder you from expressing yourself in worship to God. But I am tired of asking stupind and boring questions. Let's hit the issue head on. So enjoy, and I hope that you do take time to evaluate this and dig in the Word.

Blogging manners

Are their unwritten rules for this whole BLOG thing? If you would have asked me this an hour ago, I would have foolishly said, "Common Sense should be enough to guide people." Oh how wrong I would have been. I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who had a Blogging horror story. She went on a few dates with a guy, but it wasnt going to work out. It ended and that was the end of that or so she thought. One day she was with some of her friends talking, and the conversation turned to this guy. Her friends were acting funny (more than usual) and she found out that this guy had been putting everything about their dates on his BLOG (along with a few added exaggerations). He was now venting his frustration with her, and to make matters worse her friends had been reading it and even commenting on some of the things, but none of them told her. Of course, she got onto the BLOG and read all about their dates, and for some strange reason she was upset. I have to ask myself a few questions that seem obvious to me, but maybe they arent so easy. Did this guy really think that this was a good idea? He knew that all of her friends read it, did he think that she wouldnt? Do you think that their was ever a point where a little voice came into his head and told him that this might not be the smartest thing to do? I would contend that this guy is an idiot, and has officially joined the ranks of the socially inept (I actually wanted to say socially retarded but that wouldnt be politically correct). I might be turning into a pessimist, but I am begginning to be astounded at the large number of really stupid people that are out there. So my conclusion on the whole matter is this: I cant trust in common sense to guide people, because apparently common sense isnt so common!!

What is so great about heaven?

Right now I am consumed with some thoughts that are crushing me. I have been to several funerals of friends and family in my life. Most of them were Christians, although there are a few that I am not sure about. In all of these funerals there was a reccurring theme. That person is in a better place and we will see them again soon. As I think about heaven, I ask myself what we will be doing there for eternity. Streets of gold can only satisfy for so long (maybe 5 minutes with my attention span), and eventually I think that I will get tired of talking with people who have gone on before me. Is that what is suppossed to make heaven great? Of course there wont be any more sickness, pain, tears, or fighting. Just peace and happiness and a neat little harp and my own little cloud and maybe even a sweet set of wings (alright maybe none of the last things will be there). None of that matters....none of it satisfies and makes me long to be there. I want to quote a John Piper book called God is the Gospel page 15 which says it well. He wrote:

"The critical question for our generation- and for every generation- is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the firends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leasure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever say, and all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?
"And the question for Christian leaders is: Do we preach and teach and lead in such a way that people are prepared to hear that question and answer with a resounding No?"

There are times when I would have to honestly answer no to that question. There are times when I am not that satisfied in Christ. These are times that I need to repent of. I do want to share one personal example. After my dad died a few years ago, I would think about heaven a lot. I would long to see my dad again and just be with him again. One day I realized that I was longing to see my dad more than Christ. I believe that is sin. I repented of that, because Christ is supposed to be the sarisfaction of my heart. I was talking with Holly here in the firehouse and she gave a great example that I want to share. She said that it is like a kid that has everything but isnt loved. We have all heard stories of kids whose parents give them everything they could ever want, except for themselves. The parents shower them with ipods, video games, and toys; but never spend time with them. The kid would give up all the stuff to have time with the parents (although if he could have both it would be great). That is what heaven would be like without Jesus. We would be the kid with all of the cool toys, but we would be unsatisfied because all we really wanted was to spend time with our Father. To be with Him. I thought that she gave a pretty good illustration. Think about it. Would you be satisfied with heaven if Christ wasnt there? Is that the faith that we are supposed to have?

Self-discipline?

As the new year rolled around this year I came face to face with the classic tradition of making a New Year's Resolution. I have never made one. As a matter of face I hate the idea. Why is it that I wait until the first day of the year to decide what thing I need to change, and then I spend the next 11 1/2 months wondering why I only lasted 2 weeks on such a great resolution. That is what it has looked like on the outside to me, but this year I resolved to be different. I would plunge forward into this strange new world of resolutions and actually make one myself. What would possess me to move from such comfort and mediocrity? The answer is simple. I think it would be fun (I dont know why it would be, but it is) see if I can do this for a year. I will just call my own little self-discipline (or lack there-of). I had to choose wisely. I wanted it to be something meaningless, so I chose to refrain from all soda products for one year. What are the benefits? None except that I have a cheaper bill when I go out to eat, and I guess some kind of health junk (but I dont really care about that). I typed all of this to get to one point. What role does self-discipline have in the Christian life? How does it play out in regard to sin? It sounds like an easy question. Of course self-discipline can't free me from sin. I cant defeat sin on my own effort because then I would be able to boast. It is all grace. I think this is true, but lets look at the other side. Why is self-discipline one of the fruits of the spirit in Gal 5:23? It is also found in some very interesting verses in 2 Peter 1:4-9 (you should look at these verses real quick). There was a time in my life when all of my dependence was on self-discipline. I would have my devos in the morning and decide that today I would work on love. I will be more loving today. Or maybe I would work on my tongue because it sure would be a good thing if I could control that pesky little muscle. All of my Christian life was a matter of self-discipline. The dependence was on me, not God; and the focus was on action not relationship. When things finally began to click in my heart about grace and the intimate walk with the Savior, I took a ride on the pendulum to the other side. No self-discipline. I did what I wanted and what I felt like. If I didnt feel like spending time with God I simply refused to do it. I am now looking at this and wondering where the balance is here. God has already freed me from sin (Romans 6), but in the midst of this there is some responsibilty to flesh it out in my life (also in Romans 6 i.e. "do not yield your memners" and "consider yourselves dead to sin") Here is what I am getting at...Let's not forget that self-discipline is part of the Christian life. Not something to boast in or to depend on, but it is supposed to be there.