The Greener Grass

The Company Men

2012-01-21T22:35:00.004-05:00

The Company Men is a decent movie. Not great, but decent and worth renting. It's rated R for some crude language.

Ben Affleck plays Bobby Walker, a successful Boston (where else?) executive who suddenly finds himself without a job when his employer, GTX Corporation, downsizes. Thousands of GTX employees around the country are laid off. Eventually Walker's boss, played by the great Tommie Lee Jones, gets the axe too. So does Phil Woodward, played well by Chris Cooper (shown in photo), only he can't cope with being out of work in his 60s and, sadly, ends up taking his own life.

The movie is written, produced, and directed by John Wells, who up to this point mostly worked in television. It kind of shows. I didn't quite feel the angst of the characters. It seemed a little like a TV movie.

Nevertheless, The Company Men sends an important message. When the bottom falls out, you need to have invested sufficiently in your family so you can weather the storm together. And you need some friends. And you need to somehow be able to keep moving forward. And, although he's conspicuously absent here, you need God.

While Bobby Walker hangs on to his family, friends, and fortitude, his colleague Phil Woodward has none of those props. He is the shell of a man who, as they say, spent his life climbing the ladder of success only to find (too late) that it had been leaning against the wrong wall. He is like the rich fool of Luke 12:16-21 who stored up things for himself but was not rich toward God. He is Edwin Arlington Robinson's Richard Cory. In the end, when Phil lost his job he lost everything.

Bobby, on the other hand, has loved his wife well. There are touching scenes of them leaning on each other as a husband and wife should. It seems, however, Bobby had been slowly growing apart from his teenage son. Bobby's loss of a job turns out to be an invitation to get reacquainted with his son, and that's a good thing. Bobby Walker reminds us that home is not necessarily a house.

As Jesus said, the rain will come, the streams will rise, and the winds of affliction will blow against the houses we build (Matthew 7:24-27). It's not a matter of if, but when. If your house is not built on the Rock, it won't stand.

"On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand."

Unleashed

2012-01-02T21:43:00.005-05:00

It occurred to me while walking my dog Dabo the other day, that living in this fallen world is a lot like being on a leash. Dabo loves to take walks, but I can see it's frustrating for him to be tethered to me. He wants to be free - to run in circles if he wants to, to chase the ducks sitting by the pond, to run after other dogs with not a care in the world. But no...he has to be on a leash. He has to be restrained, held back, forced to deny his passions and impulses.

Now from my viewpoint, of course, the leash is protecting Dabo. He doesn't have the good sense not to run out in front of a car, so the leash is potentially keeping him alive. But not from Dabo's point of view. To him, the leash is a kind of death. He's been created to run loose, not to be pulled this way and that against his will. He's been made for freedom, for fun and games, for joy. The leash is a curse.

Similarly, we were created as God's vice-regents to rule the world with freedom and joy, to be fully alive and human, to explore the universe without restraint or compulsion. But sin ruined that picture. Sure, we still bear God's image, and in our better moments we still create, explore, celebrate, worship, and love. But we never get very far away from the curse. Pain in childbirth, work made oppressive, hiding in shame, blaming our problems on others, misplaced affections - all are the leash we must tolerate this side of heaven. Not to mention loss, sickness, death, and the constant temptations of the world, flesh, and devil.

Whenever I take Dabo on a walk, we always go past this lake in our subdivision. Actually it's a retention pond. But there's a huge expanse of grass beside this lake that belongs to no homeowner. It's sitting there just begging for dogs to run around and play in it. So I always take Dabo off his leash by that lake, and we run around in a big circle. Sometimes he sees a big bird or a family of ducks at the shore, and he takes off after them, imagining himself the Vicious Lake Bouncer of Eastwood. We have the best time...for a short time. Then it's back on the leash for Dabo, and the slow, restrained walk home.

The last time Dabo and I did the lake routine, I thought of my friends Fran and Christie. They both passed away last weekend. They were faithful men, true servants of Christ. In this life they'd been tethered to this fallen, sin-sick world. When they breathed their last, off came the leash. They were in Paradise.

Run free, Fran. Run free, Christie. And await with joy that great day when we will be finally and fully set free to run and play upon the new earth.

Prayer for the New Year

2012-01-02T10:57:00.006-05:00

Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) is one of my heroes. If for no other reason, I just love his name. But more than that, Zinzendorf was a German evangelical reformer and bishop of the Moravian church. He founded Herrnhut, a Moravian village that became a center of Christian renewal and mission. Zinzendorf himself was a missionary. He traveled to America, the West Indies, Switzerland, Holland, England, and Livonia with the gospel.

But another contribution Zinzendorf made to the kingdom of God was writing some great hymns. My favorite is "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness." Another is "Jesus, Still Lead On." This one makes a very good prayer as we turn the calendar to 2012. Here is an 1846 translation by Jane Borthwick:

Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
And although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless,
Guide us by Thy hand
To our fatherland.

If the way be drear,
If the foe be near,
Let not faithless fears o'ertake us,
Let not faith and hope forsake us;
For through many a foe
To our home we go.

When we seek relief
From a long-felt grief,
When temptations come alluring,
Make us patient and enduring;
Show us that bright shore
Where we weep no more.

Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
Heavenly Leader, still direct us,
Still support, console, protect us,
Till we safely stand
In our fatherland.

Kindle

2011-12-29T23:01:00.004-05:00

Shortly before I went to Japan on our church's mission trip I bought a Kindle. I knew I'd be sitting in a plane for 13 hours each way but didn't want to take a lot of books in my backpack. Kindle has changed my life! I am reading now more than ever - especially books that I wouldn't otherwise read. Here are a few of the books I'm reading...

The Girl on the Stairs: My Search for a Missing Witness to the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, by Barry Ernest - I'm hopelessly addicted to documentaries and writings about the death of JFK
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath - a good read for leaders
Let the Nations Be Glad!, by John Piper - a motivating book about missions and why we can be confident in the church's Spirit-given ability to finish the Great Commission
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins - Right, I jumped on the bandwagon.
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas - very detailed but inspiring biography
Why I Am Not an Arminian, by Robert Peterson and Michael Williams - an excellent summary and recommended for anyone wanting to understand what the Bible says about predestination

I originally bought the Kindle Keyboard model, but found it laborious to use the keyboard for typing notes and searching for books. So I traded up for a Kindle Touch. I like it much better. The touch screen makes it a lot easier to type. And even though the screen is the standard size it's overall smaller than the older version. I also bought a Kindle Touch cover with light that is really cool.

So thanks Kindle!

Favorite Christmas memories

2011-12-27T14:51:00.003-05:00

As a child, I lived in Mayberry. Ozzie and Harriet were my next door neighbors. Father knew best, and my best friends were Mike, Robbie, and Chip.

Well, not really. None of those things were true. But growing up in the small rural town of Union, SC, in the 1950s and '60s was like living in those insulated, idealized TV towns - at least until you peeled off the veneer of racism, class envy, poverty, illiteracy, sexism, crime, discrimination, etc.

One upside to my upbringing in a small southern town is that I have some very warm memories of Christmas. And I'm genuinely thankful for them.

Such as...

Going with my Dad to the "country" to cut down a Christmas tree
Popcorn balls and pecan pie
Waffles cooked with pecans on Christmas morning - Dad's specialty
Totally believing in Santa Claus, for an embarrassingly long time of my life
Leaving cookies in the den for Santa Claus
Thinking I really heard Santa Claus on the rooftop
Staring with wonder at the Santa and reindeer set that my parents put out on the living room coffee table
(OK, you get the idea; Santa was a big deal)
Keeping a fire going in the fireplace
Impatiently waiting for the grandmothers to arrive so we could begin opening presents
A new bike almost every year (complete with banana seat, raised handlebars, etc.)
Wishing for a white Christmas that never came (it seemed to rain every year)
Watching tons of corny Christmas TV specials with my parents (Andy Williams, Mitch Miller, Sonny and Cher... sheesh!)
The annual Christmas service at our First Presbyterian Church (here's a shout-out to Mr. Nabors, our faithful organist)
Walking the neighborhood and looking at everyone's Christmas decorations (our neighborhood gave prizes for the best exhibits, and Dad entered something creative every year)
Seeing Main Street decked out in lights
The annual Christmas parade, which featured my Cub Scout troop, Miss Union High, the Shriners, the marching band from the "black" high school - oh, and Santa always brought up the rear

My parents are both gone now, but I'll say a belated thank-you anyway for all they did to create special Christmas memories.

My Week with Marilyn

2011-12-26T11:00:00.004-05:00

That's a movie title, by the way... I didn't spend a week with anyone named Marilyn, I promise.

My Week with Marilyn is a really good but sad movie. You'll enjoy it if you like true (or mostly true) stories about people who changed our world. Marilyn Monroe did that. Yet as this movie shows, she was a desperately lonely, unhappy person looking for love and being used by people for whom love was a means to power.

Michelle Williams plays Marilyn at the peak of her film star career (at age 30 or 31). The setting is the production of The Prince and the Showgirl in London in 1957. That movie also starred Sir Laurence Olivier, played here by Kenneth Branagh, one of my favorite actors. Eddie Redmayne plays Colin Clark, a 23-year old film student who got a job working for Olivier and became the inspiration for Marilyn to finish her role as Elsie the showgirl. Clark's diary and books about his week-long experience with Monroe (The Prince, the Showgirl, and Me, followed by My Week with Marilyn) were the source for this movie.

I was eight years old when Marilyn Monroe died at the age of 36. So I remember all the photos and gossip about her in the late '50s and '60s. I saw a couple of her movies, including Some Like It Hot (1958), and had the typical boyhood crush on her. What I didn't know at the time, and what I suppose was watered down for the public, was how difficult she was to work with, how she struggled with depression and alcohol/drug abuse, and how unhappy was her childhood. This movie brings all those things up to the surface. In the hands of Michelle Williams, Marilyn becomes the grown-up who never grew up, the victim of abandonment.

I've read that Colin Clark's memoirs about his week with Marilyn are not to be trusted. That may be so. But this movie tells an important story nonetheless. It says that you never really know people. The most successful person out there may be the most insecure and unhappiest. Appearances deceive. A confident, beautiful Marilyn Monroe on the outside may be a frightened, abused waif on the inside. One of Christianity's main beliefs is that God sees the heart. This means more than simply "it's what's on the inside that counts." It means that God knows us at the very deepest level. There is no hiding from him. This is a truth both scary and comforting at the same time. Scary if you've never repented and trusted in Jesus. Comforting if you have - because all your sins and failures are gone. Christians are people who can be their most true selves, because they've been freed from the need to establish a record of their own based on being "good enough." Jesus is good enough for us. Christians also ought to be the people who free others up to be their truest selves. Unfortunately, we often fail in that department. Church is sometimes the place where it's most dangerous to be real.

My Week with Marilyn also illustrates the importance of family. At one point Marilyn says to Colin, "Little girls shouldn't be told how pretty they are. They should grow up knowing how much their mother loves them." Good parenting certainly cannot prevent all problems from occurring, but it sure makes a big difference. We don't have to be perfect parents. That will never happen. But what we can be is PRESENT in the lives of our kids. Marilyn Monroe didn't receive that gift, and she struggled her entire life.

Here, There and Everywhere

2011-12-22T08:08:00.003-05:00

I just read the book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, by Geoff Emerick. Geoff was the recording engineer behind most of the Beatles' music from Revolver through Abbey Road. After the Beatle break-up he went on to work with Paul McCartney and Wings. He also helped John, George, and Ringo with some of their solo projects. I wasn't as interested in that phase of Geoff's career. But the book is a fascinating expose of the wizardry and drama behind the Beatle albums that I love as much as ever.

When Geoff was just 15 years old, he was an assistant on some of the Beatles' early hits like "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." The book starts there and moves on through the Beatles' career, sharing inside stories behind the best-known Beatle songs.

Much of the book focuses on the technical aspects of audio engineering. What I liked best was Geoff's recounting how, take after take, Beatle songs evolved into the finished products we listen to today. He also shares a lot about the relationships among the Beatles. It is clear that Paul McCartney was (and is) his favorite. Emerick did not care for George Harrison at all, and is often critical of George's guitar playing and voice. John and Ringo also get their share of jabs, especially when Geoff writes about the Beatles' late career. But you can tell Geoff Emerick loved the Beatles' music, loved playing a key role in their recordings, and grieves still over the world's loss of John and George.

The book illustrates common grace. God gives gifts to all, even to those who are his enemies. Some of the world's greatest musicians are people who deny that there is a God. Such seems to be the case with the Beatles (notwithstanding another book I read recently titled The Gospel According to the Beatles, by Steve Turner). Geoff Emerick is an incredible artist. His ear is precise, his hands careful, his mind quick and alert. Yet he apparently has yet to bow the knee to Jesus. This proves the truth of Acts 17:25, "[God] himself gives all men life and breath and everything else," including artistic gifts. Why is God so generous and patient? "...so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being'" (Acts 17:27-28).

In other words, God is here, there, and everywhere.

Happy, Resolution-less New Year

2011-12-22T08:00:00.003-05:00

It's customary to start a new year out with resolutions. We resolve to eat less, exercise better, pray more, read our Bibles with greater regularity, drink less Diet Coke, and all sorts of other things. The standard joke is that such resolutions stay with us a few weeks, maybe a couple months if we're lucky, and then fall by the wayside. Why is that? It's because most resolutions to change behavior just don't go deeply enough into the motives behind our behavior. Another way of putting it is that resolutions typically address the sin but not the sin beneath the sin. Human beings live from the inside out. Behavior change starts with heart change, and most New Year resolutions simply don't touch the heart.

So here's a thought: Let's start 2012 not with resolution but with repentance.

Repentance is different from resolution. Repentance is not so much a change of behavior as it is a change of direction. Repentance is not so much a decision to "do better" as it is a deep, shocking realization of why we don't want to do better.

C. S. Lewis put it well in Mere Christianity: "Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor - that is the only way out of a 'hole.' This process of surrender - this movement full speed astern - is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death."

Lewis is saying that it's relatively easy to change behavior, especially for people who are pretty self-disciplined anyway. We can teach ourselves a few new tricks. We can develop new habits if we try hard enough. But the funny thing is, we may develop new habits and find out that we're farther away from God than we were before. God is not really calling us to pray more, as though the mere outward act of prayer is what he's after. He's calling us to be less self-reliant and more dependent on him - and that's potentially very different from simply chalking up more hours in prayer. It's the heart that God is pursuing. He doesn't so much want my time as he wants ME. He doesn't so much want my money as he wants ME. And so on.

I'm not knocking all New Year Resolutions. But I'm saying that far more potent, far more transformational, and far more dangerous, is repentance. Lay down your arms. Identify the ways you avoid God and his people. Ask a trusted friend to tell you what he or she sees in you that is less than godly. Name people in your life for whom you have contempt. Name your idols. Identify ways you hide your true self from others. These are the kind of steps we should take throughout 2012 to practice repentance. It's "a kind of death," as Lewis says. But it leads to life.

Hugo

2011-12-12T17:13:00.004-05:00

I saw Hugo, the new Martin Scorsese film, in 3D today. What a feast for the eyes and heart! I highly recommend it. Not only is Hugo an engaging story, but the acting is incredible (particularly by the two main child actors) and it's just a whole lot of fun to watch. For movie lovers like me, it's a must see for its exploration of the work of film pioneer Georges Melies.

I read online beforehand that compared to other 3D movies, the effects in Hugo are extremely well done, and I would agree. Most of the time, I can do without 3D. But this one is definitely worth seeing in 3D.

I went expecting a kids' movie. It's not so much. I imagine most kids would get pretty bored 30 minutes in. It's an adult picture that awakens the child in you.

The story goes like this (without giving anything away): Hugo Cabret is a young orphan who lives in a train station in 1930s Paris. Unbeknownst to everyone in the station, Hugo is the one who keeps all the clocks in the station wound up and set correctly. He's mechanically inclined and knows how to fix just about anything with gears and wheels, including an old automaton (a wind-up robot) that his late father found while scrounging around in an attic. With the help of the automaton and a young girl named Isabelle, Hugo solves a mystery that leads to redemption for himself and others.

At one point, Hugo Cabret gives voice to what we all instinctively know: we are broken. Like a machine in need of repair, we have been damaged by the fall of Adam. Sin has distorted the image of God we bear and we don't "work" quite right. Nevertheless, we each have a purpose - to glorify and enjoy God. In order to fulfill our purpose we must be fixed by the One who made us, has the key, and knows what to do. Jesus Christ came as our "Hugo" to rescue us from the junk pile. No one is beyond hope.

Friday Night Lights

2011-12-12T08:30:00.003-05:00

My wife and I have become immersed in the TV series, Friday Night Lights. The five seasons are on Netflix. I read the book by H. G. Bissinger years ago and saw the 2004 movie that was based on it. I had no interest in following the NBC series that started in 2006 until my daughter Jennifer said she thought I'd like it. She was right - it's really good. We're about halfway done with Season 2. So if it veers off track later, as so many good TV series do, I'll retract what I'm about to say. In terms of the acting, story line, and characterizations, it's one of my favorite shows ever.

High school football is the thread that weaves together the lives of a dozen or so key characters in a small west Texas town. Coach Eric Taylor, his wife Tami, and teenage daughter Julie are the main characters. Numerous football players, their families, hangups, and conflicts come and go, with each episode focusing on two or three. The portrayals are realistic, often very sad looks into the hearts of people who have been damaged by betrayal, poverty, abuse, or disappointment.

Coach Taylor, played by Kyle Chandler (who finally won an Emmy for his role this year), is mentor and father figure for the many troubled people in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas. He has his own weaknesses, but he's an inspiring role model for the football players he loves and protects. The way the Taylors relate to each other is a refreshing change from the way most TV shows portray families. Eric and Tami's love for each other is genuine. They work through conflicts with their daughter with honesty and grace.

With FNL, I almost feel like I know these people and am back in my hometown of Union, SC. Buddy Garrity could have easily been one of my neighbors.

In Season 2, Buddy's daughter Lyla becomes a Christian and gets involved in an evangelical church. It's encouraging to see Christianity presented positively for a change (so far, at least). Through faith in Christ, Lyla's life is turned around and she becomes a compassionate and gracious friend to people who have used her in the past. Smash Williams, Dillon High's standout football player, attends a solid church and hears authentic presentations of the gospel. How often do you see that on prime-time television?

Friday Night Lights explores our broken human condition, shows the value of community, and at key moments points to the ultimate source of healing: the gospel of Christ.

Under the Banner of Heaven

2011-09-26T16:44:00.004-04:00

Under the Banner of Heaven is another excellent piece of non-fiction from Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air and Into the Wild. The book is subtitled "A Story of Violent Faith." Woven throughout this expose of the troubling history of Mormonism is the story of the murder of a mother and her infant child by Ron and Dan Lafferty, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints.

Warning: it's sickening at times to read this book. Krakauer does not sensationalize; he merely reports. But what he reports is gruesome. It's also terribly, terribly sad that human beings can be so deceived by false religion that they do the kind of things to other people that are detailed in this book (rape, incest, polygamy, deceit, abuse, brainwashing, revenge, etc.).

Besides telling us about the Lafferty crimes of 1984, Krakauer's larger aims are twofold: first, to peel away the mystique around the roots and growth of the Mormon faith and its offshoot versions; and second, to throw religion as a whole under the bus. As to the first aim, I learned a lot about Mormonism - especially Joseph Smith and Brigham Young - that I did not know. Krakauer's research appears thorough, although Mormon spokesmen have attacked it as biased and incomplete.

As to throwing religion as a whole under the bus, it's apparent that Jon Krakauer has heard bits and pieces of the gospel but hasn't heard or understood the full or balanced picture. He's obviously learned about enough junk done in the name of God ("under the banner of heaven") that it's no wonder he's skeptical of all religions. Have Christians (like Mormons) messed up in the past? Absolutely. Do we need to own up to our failures just as Mormons need to own up to theirs? Absolutely. But sooner or later every human being comes back to the age-old questions: Why are we here rather than not here? What's the meaning of our lives? What will be the basis of hope when we're looking death in the face? If God does not exist, why do we bother to wake up tomorrow morning?

May these questions lead Jon to Christ, who will one day wipe every tear from our eyes and recreate this messed-up world in justice and peace.

Contagion

2011-09-26T15:28:00.004-04:00

As if we needed something else to worry about, now there's the movie Contagion.

Suzy and I saw this movie last night. It's a well-made flick about germs, infectious disease, death, mayhem, compassion for the suffering, commitment to family and friends, and greed. The cast is a roll call of great actors: Paltrow, Damon, Fishburne, Law, Winslet, Gould, and (my favorite actress) Marion Cotillard. Even the stand-up comic Demetri Martin makes a serious appearance as a lab technician. The famed neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta shows up as well. So lots of familiar faces in this one. Kinda like those disaster movies of the 1970s (Towering Inferno, Poseidon Adventure, etc.).

The action gets going right away. From your first bite of popcorn, you're watching scenes of people throughout the world as they touch door knobs, elevator buttons, drink glasses, and each other, transferring whatever germs they happen to be carrying to everyone else on the planet. Soon people are dying right and left. Some of the death scenes are disturbing. It's a contagion. It seems no country is spared. The body count grows quickly. Scientists and government experts are befuddled. They've never seen anything like it. A cure, if it exists at all, is elusive and expensive.

The movie does a great job of creating several sub-plots that catch you up and make you curious, but they prove to be minor distractions from the main questions: Who is to blame? What did Beth do, or not do? Is the fictitious homeopathic medicine Forsythia a cure, or a sham? There was just enough pathos, intrigue, and suspense that I was totally engaged in the film the whole 106 minutes. I also got an education from watching this movie. I didn't know the average person touches his or her face 2,000 times a day!

(If there's any doubt about the educational benefit of this movie, I can tell you that afterwards I immediately went to the men's room and washed my hands thoroughly!)

As a Christian watching Contagion, I found two things noteworthy. One was the contrast between those who helped others and those who helped only themselves. I had to ask myself the question, "If people around me were dying from an infectious disease, would I reach out and help them? Or would I retreat into the safety of my own home and ignore the need of my fellow man?" Marion Cotillard's character is an honorable example of people like Mother Teresa who choose to move toward the sick rather than away from them. God, grant me the grace to do likewise.

The other thing that's hard for someone with a Biblical worldview to miss, is the way this movie illustrates the transmission of original sin throughout the human race. In the paragraph above I posed the question, "If people around me were dying from an infectious disease...." The truth is, they are dying from an infectious disease. It's called sin. We've all been touched by Adam and are sinners by nature. Isaiah 64:5b-6a says, "...we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags" (NLT).

The Bible says we were conceived in sin. That doesn't mean sexual intercourse is bad. It means that the moment egg and sperm unite in the womb, another sinner is born. Through natural generation we inherit Adam's fallen sin nature. You don't have to teach a kid to sin; he sins because he's a sinner.

The good news is that Jesus Christ came sinlessly into our world, exposed himself to our disease, and provided the one and only cure for sin: his death and resurrection. He "became our sin" on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21) and rose again to newness of life. Through faith in Jesus, you can be forgiven, cleansed, made new, considered righteous (i.e., acceptable) by God, and empowered to live with hope and holiness. You'll still mess up, but you won't be condemned, because you are "in Christ," no longer "in Adam."

That's the vaccine that will both heal you and empower you to be an agent of healing for others.

Ten things I am tired of

2011-09-01T17:27:00.004-04:00

I could do without one more instance of the following:

The word "awwwwww" in responses to my Facebook status updates
Advertising slogans that string together three words divided by periods (examples: live.work.play, blah.blah.blah)
TV commercials for Progressive car insurance
Songs by Bread
TV commercials for Free Credit Report
Anything Kardashian
"I Can Only Imagine"
The word "app"
The word "woot"
Dog throw-up

There are more, but those are the big ones.

On reading the Bible well

2011-08-05T19:21:00.002-04:00

One of the things that ought to bother us (and does bother me) is the widespread ignorance of the Bible in the church today. You may have heard about the Pew Forum's 2010 “US Religious Knowledge Survey.” The average Christian respondent to the survey answered only half the questions correctly, including 6 out of 12 questions related to Christianity. A Gallup poll once found that only three out of five Christians could list the names of the four gospels, and only half knew Jesus was the one who preached the Sermon on the Mount.

So that's a problem. But I'm just as concerned about those who "know" their Bibles inside and out but fail to read it correctly.

For example, I'm preaching through the Old Testament book of Nehemiah right now. Nehemiah tells the story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah's governorship in the 5th century B.C. I've read several commentaries and sermons about Nehemiah. They all point out many valuable lessons to be gleaned from Nehemiah's story - his fervent prayer for the people of God in Chapter One, his visionary leadership, his courage in the face of opposition, and so on. That's fine as far as it goes. But did God put Nehemiah in the Bible so that we could simply learn what a great man Nehemiah was and imitate his leadership style? If leadership principles are the main take-away from this book of the Old Testament, we could probably do better by picking out a few titles from the business section of the local Barnes & Noble.

No, God gave us the sixty-six books of the Bible to point us to Christ. The Bible is the unfolding story of God's plan to make all things new and redeem his wayward people. Every book in the Bible is one more piece in that story. This means that a book like Nehemiah - while it gives us much wonderful and applicable information about faith, leadership, prayer, spiritual warfare, repentance, body life, etc. - is ultimately showing us our need of a Savior and revealing that God has provided a Redeemer to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Bold Nehemiah is a type of the Christ. His efforts to revitalize Jerusalem and make it a city of holiness, safety, and justice reflect the work of Jesus who left his place in heaven, came to our ruined planet, and is serving us still as our Prophet, Priest, and King. The restoration of Jerusalem - short-lived as it was - draws our hearts to a higher and much greater and eternal restoration to come - the new heavens and new earth.

To read the Bible well means to remember that it tells one story and points to one Hero, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said that the Bible (or the Old Testament, at least) was about him. In John 5:39 he told the Pharisees, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testfy about me." So you see, it's possible to know the Bible well (like the Pharisees) and miss the point completely. I think of all those Christians who slavishly follow a Bible-reading plan, memorize gobs of Bible verses, and crush the competition at Bible sword drills but fail to see Christ on every page. I'm not knocking Bible reading and memorization plans. Would that more of us were diligent in such disciplines! What I'm urging us to do, to borrow Gordon Fee's book title, is to read the Bible for all its worth.

As many others have said, the Bible is a love story in four parts, or a symphony in four movements: Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation. As you read the Bible, think of those four great themes and see how one or more of them is reflected in the passage you're reading. Also, ask questions of the text like these:

What does this passage reveal about God's gracious provision of the work of Christ?
What does this passage reveal about human nature that requires the work of Christ?
What aspect of my brokenness do I see in this passage and what is God doing about it?

Unfortunately, the only question many Christians ask of the text is something like, "How does this passage apply to my life?" It's a well-intentioned question, and one that should be asked at some point in the study process. But if that's the only question you ask of a Bible passage, you're probably just going to make new resolutions to try harder to "be like" Nehemiah or David or Paul or Abraham or Mary or Jesus or whoever you happen to be reading about.

Charles Spurgeon once told one of his students, "Don't you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? So from every text in Scripture there is a road towards the great metropolis, Christ. And my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, now what is the road to Christ?"

That's a good rule to follow as you read the Bible. Ask of the passage, "Now what is the road to Christ?" It takes time and effort to read the Bible this way, but it's the way that leads to gospel hope.

Snobbish dog walkers

2011-07-22T10:53:00.003-04:00

I walk our dog Dabo several times a week around the neighborhoods of our community. Each time, we meet up with several other dogs being walked by their owners. Dabo is sociable. When he sees another dog up close he goes crazy, stands up on his hind legs, and wants to stop for a while and visit. I do too. I figure it's a good way to get to know my neighbors.

But no. Invariably, these owners pull their dogs close, keep their distance, and walk on past Dabo and me. In fact they hardly make eye contact with me or even say hello. Their priority seems to be to protect their precious dog from Dabo's germs and shenanigans.

Why is that? C'mon people. Relax already. Let your dog talk to Dabo.

A plea for plain speaking

2011-07-21T19:36:00.003-04:00

We Christians (including me!) are some of the worst offenders when it comes to using worn-out cliches and expressions the average person doesn't understand. I've always felt this way, but an article tweeted by my friend Randy Greenwald nudged me to go on the record and say, Let's speak plainly!

In the Christian community we've developed a vocabulary all our own. We know what we're talking about...I think. But people outside or new to the church must scratch their heads and wonder why we talk like we do.

For example, we pray "God, bless so-and-so," instead of simply asking God to give so-and-so some money or whatever it is. We say to our worship leader, "That was an awesome worship song," instead of "Thanks, I enjoyed that." We tell a friend, "I'd covet your prayers," instead of just saying "I need help." We baptize with near-canonical authority catchy phrases said by our favorite preachers, like "Let's drill down into this passage" or "God really showed up last Sunday." In a former church I often called the congregation "beloved" - three syllables, of course. Where did I get that?

And for some reason a lot of Christians say "God" again and again throughout their prayers. I don't know about you, but when I'm having a conversation with, say, my friend John, I don't start off every sentence with "John." Repetition of God's name in any context comes pretty close to being the babbling and "vain repetition" Jesus warns us about in Matthew 6:7-8. We would all do well to regularly review the Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13), a model of brevity and simplicity.

And why did Christians suddenly become "Christ-followers"? There's nothing wrong with the expression, of course, and I understand that "Christian" is a bad word in some places. But I get the feeling that the regular use of "Christ-follower" now entitles the speaker to a place at the table with all the hip, emerging church leaders of the day. A few years from now, what will we call Christians?

Recently I listened to a panel of Christian leaders speaking on the subject of the emerging church. (By the way, there's another one: is there anything more obscure than the word "emerging"?!) I wish I had a dollar for every time one of those guys used the word "conversation." That's such a nice, touchy-feely word, probably intended to soften the very real disagreements that the various speakers had with each other. My recommendation: Stop talking about having a conversation and tell it like it is! Let it be a real debate, not a "conversation."

In the article referred to above, author Karen Prior lists other "Christianese" words that need to be tossed. Here are a few examples, followed by my comments:

"love on" - Why can't we just say "love"?
"love well" - I hear this all the time. But again, why can't we just say "love"? You either love someone or you don't. How does one "love [someone] well"? Is it even possible to love someone "un-well"?!
"community" - Now here I'm at a loss to know how not to say "community." I agree that it's overused. But it's an important, Biblical word and I don't know what to put in its place. I certainly don't want to go back to the old word "fellowship"!
"just" - Many Christians use this word all the time in prayer. "Lord, I just want to thank you... I just love you, Lord... We just praise you for your grace... Just give us a heart to know you." Why do we say "just" so often? What does it add to the request? Prior is right when she surmises that it's used to express humility. OK. But again, do you talk to your spouse that way? "Hey honey, would you just make me a sandwich? Let's just go to a movie. I just love you." Nope.
"anointed" - Here's a word the average non-Christian has no category for. We say, "That was an anointed sermon." Why not simply tell the preacher you liked it, and give a reason or two?

William Penn said, "Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood." What suggestions can you offer to help us be people who speak plainly and are therefore understood?

Summer reading list

2011-07-20T18:33:00.007-04:00

It's been a good season of turning pages for me. A week's vacation at the beach is a great help. Here are some of the books I've read or am reading this summer...

The Language of God, by Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project. Collins is a Christian but also a believer in theistic evolution. He rejects intelligent design and creationism, but manages to hold on to the idea that God created all things out of nothing. I struggle mightily to reconcile Collins' arguments with the Bible's teaching about, for example, Adam and Eve (see next book on my list). But I'm glad he's on our side.
Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?, by C. John Collins. This Collins, professor of Old Testament at my alma mater, Covenant Theological Seminary, responds to the previous Collins and to others who are abandoning belief in a historical Adam and Eve. I agree with the author that "the traditional understanding of of Adam and Eve as our first parents...is the view articulated or presupposed in Genesis, in Paul, and above all, in the Gospel presentation of Jesus. The alternatives are less satisfactory, and possibly even disastrous...." (pg. 133).
Decision Points, by George W. Bush. This book reveals many personal as well as executive aspects of the Bush presidency of which I was unaware.
A Patriot's History of the United States, by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen. I love reading US history, and this book written by two conservative professors of history covers the whole story all the way into the post-9/11 years. The authors' intent is to give a fair and honest review of American history with particular focus on the ideas of character, liberty, and property.
Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson. This is a fascinating, true chronicle about the 1991 discovery of a German WWII U-boat sunk sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey. The book focuses on the contributions of two divers in particular: John Chatterton and Richie Kohler. The author takes you into these guys' personal stories and underwater to find answers to questions about the U-boat's origin, crew, and tragic demise. I got so wrapped up in the tale that I bought a DVD called "Hitler's Lost Sub" and watched the 1981 film Das Boot. I had no idea German U-boats sank so many of our ships during WWII and patrolled right off the US coastline!

Good Friday

2011-04-22T16:27:00.003-04:00

Two criminals, both guilty,

Hanging on crosses a few feet away from the Savior of the world.

One hopeless, filled with hate,
The other... broken, self-aware, penitent, hanging on to hope.

The question is, Would Jesus care for either one?

They both deserved to die.
The blood of innocents was on their nail-pierced hands.
They had been tried, condemned, and crucified as Roman law demanded.

So what was the difference between the two thieves?
Was one less sinful than the other?
Less guilty? More enlightened?

No.
It had nothing to do with their goodness
And everything to do with God's grace.

The one thief scorned grace,
Refused grace.
"Save yourself and us," he said to Jesus.
It wasn't that he wanted to reform his life, to start over again.
He just wanted to avoid death.

The second thief? He knew he deserved to die.
"We are punished justly," he said as he hung on his cross.
With empty hands outstretched, he asked for grace:
"Remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He was dying for grace,
And he found grace.
He found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

"Today," said Jesus,
"You will be with me in Paradise."

A hymn by William Cowper speaks of this man, this penitent criminal:

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.

In these two thieves are the faces of every person who has ever lived.
We are all as vile as they.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
All are sons of Adam and daughters of Eve,
Have broken God's law, deserve to die,
Should die at the hands of a just God.

But the God of justice is also the God of grace.

Like the thief, we look over to the cross where a guiltless man hangs,
The only guiltless man who ever lived,
The Son of God, Immanuel,
And we cry out, "Jesus, have mercy. Remember me when you come into your kingdom."

And his words echo down through time to everyone who calls on the name of the Lord:
"I tell you the truth, you too will be with me in Paradise."

Two criminals, both guilty.

The one died, but lived again.
The other was within feet of the Author of life, but chose death.

Which thief are you?

Get Low

2011-03-14T12:02:00.004-04:00

Get Low is an example of my favorite kind of movie - an intelligent, compelling story about relationships and redemption with fine acting and interesting cinematography. It doesn't have to be a big-budget blockbuster for me. In fact, that kind of movie seems to always disappoint and I want my money back. But I love these independent films that connect with the heart and illustrate eternal themes.

Get Low is set in the rural South in the 1930s. Robert Duvall plays Felix Bush, a hermit who has kept a painful secret for over 40 years. Based on a legend about a real-life guy who lived in Tennessee, the movie starts off with a flashback to a burning house and a man leaping out of an upstairs window and running away. Not until the last few minutes does the viewer find out what that was all about. Along the way is subtle humor, hints of Bush's secret past and lost love, and excellent performances by Duvall and Lucas Black, who plays the assistant undertaker to Bill Murray's Frank Quinn, owner of the town's funeral parlor.

Early on, Bush visits a local preacher and tells him he (Bush) needs to "get low." The rest of the movie makes clear what that expression means. To "get low" means to repent, to come clean, to admit one's failings. It's what the apostle James exhorts us to do:

"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up" (James 4:8-10, NIV).

For four decades Bush has tried to suppress the awareness of his sin and its consequences. His guilty conscience has driven him away from people to a place of isolation, bitterness, and paranoia. That's what sin does to us when ignored. It won't just go away. Instead, like a cancer sin eats away at us, destroying not only our own peace of mind but our intimacy with others. Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy" (NIV).

In other words, the way up is down. The way to experience healing and restoration is to "get low," to be honest about our offenses and rest in the righteousness of Christ instead of a facade of self-righteousness.

Job knew this. His final words to his three friends were, "If I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside...then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley" (Job 31:33-40, NIV).

To get low, however, requires a death - a death to the idols of reputation, approval, success and security. (That's why in this movie, Felix Bush arranges to make his confession at his own funeral party.) And to die to one's idols appears so costly that few of us live with complete honesty. About leaders Dan Allender writes,

"Most leaders avoid naming their failures due to fear.... If a leader were to openly acknowledge that he is frequently mistaken, that he is deeply flawed, and that he will continue to miss the mark on occasion, the ramifications could be disastrous. A leader with that much candor could lose the confidence of his staff, his clients could take their business elsewhere, and his board could fire him. At least those are the fears that keep us silent. But what actually does happen when we overcome this fear and come clean about our personal flaws?...Paradoxically, when we muster the courage to name our fears, we gain greater confidence and far greater trust from others." (Leading with a Limp, Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2006, pg. 5)

Sure enough, when Felix Bush finally "gets low," there is redemption, restoration of relationships, and resurrection.

Because of the cross and God's unconditional love, we have no reason not to get low. We are safe because of Jesus. Even if people reject us for our confession, the one Person in the universe who really matters has said he will never leave us or forsake us. God accepts us - not because we have a perfect record, but because Jesus kept a perfect record for us and died for our offenses. We think we will save ourselves heartache by keeping our secrets to ourselves. In reality, the truth will set us free.

Very good movie. Thanks, Hollywood.

Leading with a Limp

2011-02-20T18:29:00.003-05:00

I'm reading Dan Allender's book, Leading with a Limp. It's unlike most other books on leadership. Allender's thesis right there on page 2 is "to the degree you face and name and deal with your failures as a leader, to that same extent you will create an environment conducive to growing and retaining productive and committed colleagues."

Wait a minute... I thought leadership was about know-how, competence, expertise, control!

No, says Dan Allender. In this book he calls us as leaders to be willing to expose and dismantle our sins and shortcomings out in the open, where our colleagues and employees can see us for who we really are. Put another way, we leaders are supposed to be the chief repenters.

Allender spells out five challenges every leader faces: crisis, complexity, betrayal, loneliness, and weariness. He explains that there are both ineffective and effective responses to each of those challenges. Drawing from both personal experiences and Biblical stories, Allender calls on leaders to move into the chaos of each challenge with courage. But the kind of courage we must exercise is paradoxically the kind that admits weakness. "You are the strongest when you are weak, and you are the most courageous when you are broken."

If you're looking for a book that will tell you the five secrets to success or the seven steps to taking your organization to the next level, Leading with a Limp is not it. But if you're a discouraged leader who wonders whether God can use you, a mother or father who thinks you're the only parent in the world who doesn't know what to do next, or a church leader who wants to see your church grow as a gospel community, this would be a great read. It certainly encouraged me.

My favorite word in the Bible

2010-12-09T20:59:00.000-05:00

My favorite word in the Bible is not "Jesus" (although he is far and away my favorite Bible character, if that's even an appropriate way to talk about him). Neither is my favorite word "love," or "faith," or "cross," or a word with similar spiritual overtones.

Instead, my favorite word in the Bible is... (drum roll, please)...

"BUT"

That's right. The oft-maligned, under-appreciated, over-used little word "but" is my favorite word in the Bible. Why, you ask? Take a look at some of the places you find it in the Bible:

Genesis 50:20 - Joseph, speaking to his guilty brothers, said, "You intended to harm me, BUT God intended it for good."
Psalm 30:5 - Here's a double dose: "For [God's] anger lasts only a moment, BUT his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, BUT rejoicing comes in the morning."
Psalm 73:26 - The psalmist Asaph wrote these words affirming the faithfulness of God: "My flesh and my heart may fail, BUT God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
Acts 3:15 - Peter, preaching on the streets of Jerusalem, proclaimed to the city, "You killed the author of life, BUT God raised him from the dead!"
Romans 5:7-8 - There is hardly a better summary of the gospel than this one from the apostle Paul: "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. BUT God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 8:32 - Paul went on to explain, "He who did not spare his own Son, BUT gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
Ephesians 2:1, 4-5 - Doctor Paul first gives the diagosis, then he follows it up with the prescription: "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.... BUT because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."
Hebrews 2:9 - The writer of Hebrews asserted that at the present time we don't see humankind in their place of dominion over creation. "BUT we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor...."

As you can see from this little survey, the word "but" holds a place of great honor in the Scriptures! It is often the key to gospel hope. It is often the bridge between problem and solution, the pivot upon which the promise of forgiveness turns. May we never ignore or belittle the "buts" of the Bible.

127 Hours

2010-12-07T19:36:00.002-05:00

The movie 127 Hours is the true story of Aron Ralston's five-day, "between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place" ordeal in a Utah canyon back in 2003. You can read about the ordeal here.

Ralston is played with excellence by James Franco. He ought to win an Oscar.

Most of the movie's 94 minutes are occupied with Ralston's thoughts while trapped in the canyon, his recollections of the past, and his efforts to free himself from the boulder that fell on his arm. In a way, 127 Hours resembles Cast Away, the 2000 movie starring Tom Hanks about a man trying to survive on a deserted island. Nearly the whole time, it's just Franco, the canyon, and the sky above. But director Danny Boyle relies on more flashbacks, music, and sentiment in 127 Hours than Robert Zemeckis did in Cast Away. For the most part, it works splendidly too. There's a lot of angst in this movie, a lot of regret over selfish actions and lost relationships. All this leads up to one of the most dramatic, excruciating movie scenes I've ever not watched.

The spiritual implications of 127 Hours are many and deep. During his five torturous days deep in the canyon, Ralston discovers the depth of his sinfulness. He has been a thoroughly self-centered man. He has ignored his parents' love, used his girlfriend, and refused to let anyone really help him or know him. He didn't even tell anyone where he was going that fateful day. He is Adam hiding behind fig leaves. He is Samson - proud, boastful, self-sufficient. He is David before his downfall with Bathsheba. It took the trauma of 127 lonely, painful hours for Ralston to come to the end of himself.

In the most memorable scene of the movie for me, after he obtains his freedom he looks at the boulder that fell on him and says "Thank you." He is now free indeed - free to love, free to need. But to get to this new place he had to repent. He had to (literally) obey Christ's words in Matthew 5:30 - "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." Ralston had to throw away his idol if he was ever to be truly alive.

Another significant moment in the movie comes when the truth about providence and the sovereignty of God is revealed to Ralston. (Of course, whether Ralston ever submitted to that truth I cannot say.) About the boulder, Ralston/Franco says something like, "That boulder has been waiting there for centuries until I happened to fall into this canyon. It was waiting there just for me." Ralston is right. Nothing happens by chance. If not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of God (Matthew 10:29), so not one stone rolls down upon the arm of a mountain climber apart from the sovereign plan of God. That boulder was a "severe mercy," intended by God to bring Ralston to faith.

The story of Aron Ralston is still being written. I hope it ends in God's glory and Ralston's joy.

The Town

2010-10-25T18:45:00.003-04:00

The Town, a film directed by and starring Ben Affleck, tells the story of four bank robbers who live in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, and the relationship that almost turns one of them around.

The film opens with the claim that Charlestown is home for an inordinate number of crimes and armed robberies. Sure enough, Doug MacRay (Affleck) and his buddies are experts at robbing banks and armored cars. They work for a powerful drug lord whose day job is running a flower shop. Apparently what holds Charlestown together is a Mafia-esque loyalty to family... regardless of how much pain and heartache such loyalty causes.

An interesting romantic plot weaves in and out among the elaborate holdups. There are some cool chase scenes and lots of bullets flying everywhere. I liked the movie a lot, even if the story was fairly predictable. The acting is really good, and the relationship between Doug and Claire draws you in. I felt the movie stopped way too short of dealing with the angst between Doug and his father. A brief visit in the prison where his father is serving time is the only glimpse you get into Doug's father wounds.

The movie's sub-plot is that everyone has a hungry heart. Doug is looking to break free of Charlestown's violent grip, and desperately wants the love of a woman of virtue. Doug's quasi-girlfriend Krista turns to drugs and sex for significance. Doug's best friend James's idol is power. Claire is no less empty, but her idol (humanitarian good will) looks a lot more respectable. No one seeks the glory of their Creator or a relationship with the One who proved his love on the cross.

The main character of the movie is, of course, the Town. People who grow up there are called Townies. The Town owns and controls its people until they get desperate enough to break free. And if they're not careful, even then the Town has a mysterious power to woo people back in. The Town is therefore equivalent to Bunyan's City of Destruction in Pilgrim's Progress. The gospel frees us from our captivity to sin and invites us into a new life with a new Love - a Love that won't let us go but liberates us to find our true selves.

(Be aware that The Town is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use.)

Children and Stewardship

2010-10-05T17:33:00.003-04:00

It's never too early to teach your children to store up their treasures in heaven. Here's a story to prove that kids can "get it."

A couple weeks ago, I preached a sermon on giving. My children's message that day was about giving, too. I told the children a simplified version of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Then I gave each child in the group a $1 bill, and challenged them to invest it in order to see how far that $1 bill could go for the Kingdom of God. I gave the kids a couple of ideas. They might use their dollar to buy supplies for a lemonade stand, for example. Or they might use it to help buy posters to advertise a yard sale. In other words, if the kids invested their $1 bill instead of spending it on something that perishes, they might be surprised to see how much money they could give to God.

A week went by. Then last Sunday, a parent sent me a letter in which he reported the results of my little experiment. His two children (ages 6 and 10) decided to put their dollar bills together. With their $2, they bought a book from Goodwill, which they sold on Amazon.com for $20. After Amazon's fees the total return on their investment of $2 was $15. They gave that $15 to our church!

How inspiring! And what an unforgettable lesson these two kids learned - that by investing a little, we can give a lot to the Kingdom.

Parents should model and teach principles of financial stewardship to their children as early in life as possible. Your kids are impressionable pieces of clay when they are young. It's harder to change financial habits later in life (as many of us adults can easily testify). But if you can help your children understand that everything we have is God's, and that God gives us money in order that we might share it with others, they can grow up to be givers instead of spenders.

As Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

Edge of Darkness

2010-10-01T13:08:00.004-04:00

Edge of Darkness is Mel Gibson's latest movie. He plays Thomas Craven, a Boston homicide detective whose daughter gets caught up in a convoluted, deadly plot to expose a corporation for what it really is. It's a story of cover-up, conspiracy, and government complicity in making this world a scary place.

It's not an easy movie to watch, for several reasons. For one thing, with all the unfavorable news out there about Gibson (e.g., racist rants, abuse allegations, etc.), it felt to me that the anger he displays in this movie is a bit too real. He goes after people with a vengeance. It's understandable, given what his character has to deal with. I'm just saying you can't avoid drawing a connection between reality and cinema. In addition, it's a violent movie with lots of people getting blown away. That's why it's rated R for strong, bloody violence and language. You have been forewarned.

Oh, and another, annoying reason I found Edge of Darkness hard to watch is that I could barely understand the dialogue at several key points, particularly when Ray Winstone was on screen as Jedburgh. Maybe it was everyone's Boston accent, but I had to turn on the English subtitles on my TV. I wonder, why don't movie directors tell actors to enunciate?!

On the other hand, there's a strong, positive message here about the role of father as protector and lover of his children. There's also redemption, as we see a father-daughter relationship restored and past mistakes forgiven. In contrast to a betraying friend, a greedy corporate lawyer, a conniving senator, and other unsavory characters, Thomas Craven is someone with values of justice and mercy.

If only he walked humbly with his God (Micah 6:8). The only answer to injustice this movie provides is to point a gun and pull the trigger.

Dabo

2010-09-15T18:53:00.006-04:00

It has been an exciting week in the Osborne household. And it all has to do with animals.

As I've posted before, Suzy and I have been adoptive parents of a cat for several years. Her name was Cleopatra (or Cleo for short). Notice I said "was." She died last week.

It was the weirdest thing. On Sunday, September 5, we came home from church to find that she'd vomited all around the house. And for several days she kept vomiting (even though she stopped eating entirely). We could find nothing unusual that she'd ingested. She was an indoor cat, so it couldn't have been something outside. But she was really sick. She acted very strange, too, like she'd aged 20 years or something. She walked slowly, and when she wasn't throwing up she just lay on the floor like an old cat. I took her to the vet, and they wanted to do all these tests. They theorized that it was renal failure or something like that. But it might have simply been that she was dehydrated. That made sense. Especially since the tests were going to run into the hundreds of dollars.

So the vet gave us some bags of fluid, and since Suzy is a nurse she injected it under Cleo's skin twice a day for a couple days. Cleo showed no response. The vomiting continued. Finally on Wednesday night of last week, she passed away in her sleep.

Suzy and I were sad. We'd grown very fond of Cleo and she was a great kitty. Very affectionate. We remembered how forlorn and skinny she was when we first brought her home from Gulfport, Mississippi, where our grandkids found her hiding underneath their church. She was a symbol for us of redemption.

Well, I'm the most surprised of anyone for what I'm about to tell you. The very next day, we go get a dog.

We've had several dogs in our family over the years, so I'm a dog lover. But after our last dog died 10 years ago or so, I insisted that we would never again get a dog. They're too much trouble, I said. They'd tie us down, I said. They'd ruin our home, I said. But what did I do when Suzy suggested we get a dog? I said yes. YES! I was such a pushover!

Suzy has always wanted a bichon frise. She'd had her eye on this bichon frise puppy at a nearby pet store. So sure enough, after she got off work on Thursday, we met at the pet store, said hello to this little puppy, and a couple hours later we walk out of the store with this dog under our arms.

We love him! We struggled to come up with a good name. We figured since he's French we ought to give him a French name. But they all sounded too girly. So we blended a French name with a name only a select group of Southern football fans will understand: Dabo.

Dabo is the first name of the head coach of Clemson University's football team, Dabo Swinney. His brothers called him "Dabo" when he was a little kid, intending to say "That boy." So we named our puppy "Dabo." For a second name, we came up with "Leblanc." The reason for that is that Suzy wanted to name him Jean Valjean, and I protested. But in Les Miserables, Valjean is also known as Monsieur Leblanc. So that settled it. Our puppy would be called Dabo Leblanc.

He's a really good puppy. He's already doing pretty well with his "outside" business, although he's had a few accidents in the house. He's very affectionate, as I'm told all bichons are. He likes to run and play fetch and chew on things. We're learning his routines and trying to follow the rules.

I have to admit, it's fun being a dog owner again. I just didn't expect it to happen quite this way.

Invictus

2010-09-13T14:23:00.003-04:00

Invictus is the story of Nelson Mandela's rise to the presidency of South Africa in 1994, and the role played by his support of the Springboks (South Africa's national rugby team) in reconciling blacks and whites after apartheid. The film is directed by Clint Eastwood. Morgan Freeman is excellent in the role of his friend Mandela. Matt Damon co-stars as Francois Pienaar, captain of the Springboks, whose transformation from bitter Afrikaner to Mandela supporter is a metaphor for what took place in the nation as a whole. I thought Damon was very believable, particularly turning in an authentic-looking performance on the rugby field.

I didn't know a lot about Mandela before watching Invictus. Admittedly, the movie is one-sided. It focuses exclusively on his efforts to reconcile the races in post-apartheid South Africa and his contributions to human rights. There is controversy, of course, about his criticism of US foreign policy and his early activities while leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress. But his conciliatory tone during his five years as leader of a nation torn by years of racial strife is inspiring. He admirably illustrates Romans 12:21 - "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

The movie points out that while Mandela was in prison, the poem "Invictus" was his inspiration. Written from a hospital bed by William Ernest Henley, English poet of the 19th century, "Invictus" eulogizes man's "unconquerable soul." It ends with these well-known words,

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Umm, no. Not true. One of the most basic truths of human existence is that there is a God, and we are not him.

Henley wrote his poem from a God-less worldview. In the first stanza, he thanks "whatever gods may be" for his perseverance through suffering. He goes on to boast that his head is "bloody, but unbowed." And most stoutly, in the third stanza he writes,

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

That is an extraordinary boast for a man who at age 12 developed tuberculosis of the bone. If his poem accurately reflects the state of his heart, Henley should have spent less time praising the human spirit and more time fearing the one "who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him" (Luke 12:5, NIV).

Henley's poem may have inspired great deeds of victory for Mandela and the Springboks, but it is a lie that will lead to spiritual defeat.

The Bible says to boast in nothing but Christ (Galatians 6:14). Every beat of our hearts is a gift of God's grace. He alone is sovereign. To be sure you will be safe on Judgment Day, you must enter the "strait gate" that Henley talks about in his poem - the one that Jesus offers in the gospel (Matthew 7:13). That gate is Jesus himself, who took our place on the cross because of "how charged with punishments [is] the scroll" of our lives.

If you are trusting in Jesus, who winced and cried aloud under the bludgeonings of the cross, and whose head was bloody but unbowed, then you can face death with courage. Until then, be willing to be conquered by the grace and mercy of Christ.

Inception

2010-08-25T15:39:00.004-04:00

I have a new favorite to add to my "Top Ten Movies" list: Inception. I've seen it twice. I loved every minute of it.

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento, The Prestige, etc.) Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, an expert at extracting secrets from people by entering their dreams and unlocking the buried information. But we learn that Cobb can also plant ideas in people's minds via their dreams. So in this story, he pulls off an ingenious layering of dreams in the mind of a tycoon named Robert Fischer in order to rescue a Japanese businessman and at the same time free himself from a life behind bars.

The technical wizardry required for such a feat is left largely unexplained - a wise move on Nolan's part. Rather than occupying our time telling us how the dream machine works, Nolan focuses on the internal conflict that drives Cobb and the lifelong burden that has haunted Fischer.

Dreams are great fodder for stories anyway. The Bible treats dreams as a milieu for communication from God and a place we go to express our deepest anxieties and hopes. Inception captures the latter very well. Cobb cannot escape the mistakes of his past. He is doomed to relive them over and over again in his dreams. Because he has never experienced redemption, his guilt is inescapable. Only the great exchange that happened at Calvary can eradicate guilt once for all. Unfortunately, the cross is absent in Inception. It's up to Cobb himself to figure out a way to put the past behind him and move on.

The other great theme in this movie is fatherhood. Cobb longs to be reunited with his children, and Fischer lives with an unfulfilled need of an affirming father. I won't give away how this theme gets developed, lest I spoil the adventure for you.

All the other elements are there in big supply: Matrix-like special effects, great acting and character development, awesome sound and music, and plenty of suspense. But ultimately it's a story about the human heart - its capacity for love, its wounds, and its irrepressible cry for wholeness.

The power of words

2010-08-20T18:48:00.003-04:00

I had quite an interesting encounter today. I was at the local library preparing my Sunday sermon. Mine was the only table in the library because they were doing early voting. So this guy comes wandering over with his laptop looking for a place to plug in and work. He's an African American, I'm guessing 40 years old. I tell him to take the other half of my table.

So we sit there quietly doing our work, when I notice he's laughing a little bit. Then he looks up and speaks to me. He says, "You don't have to study so hard. God's going to give you your sermon."

He's not a crazy man - I've talked with plenty of crazy people in my time. This guy's for real. He's kind and sincere.

He goes on. He says God gave him a word for me. "You don't have to study so hard. God's going to tell you what to say this Sunday."

How does he know I'm a preacher? How does he know what I was doing at the library?!

We have a good conversation. I find out he owns a trucking company. We get to know each other a little bit more.

Then he continues the "prophecy." He reaches out, takes my hand, and says, "You're going to have a lot of influence. God is going to give you three groups of people: constituents, comrades, and counselors. You have the anointing. God is preparing you for influence."

Now, I have always been a skeptic when it comes to "words of prophecy" and such. While I love the Pentecostal and charismatic friends I've made over the years, and believe that we Presbyterians have a lot to learn from them, I have serious reservations about their theology. Nevertheless, I cannot just dismiss what this guy said to me today. He told me that he never goes to the library. Something just "told" him to go there today. Is it just a coincidence that on this day, because early voting was going on, there was only one table in the whole library, and that he and I came at the same time and sat at this table?

I had a similar experience back in the 1990s when I was pastor of a church in South Carolina. A member of my church had a strong charismatic leaning. He was a good friend and we often met together for prayer. One time he took me by the shoulders, looked deeply into my eyes, and shared what he called a prophetic word. I can't remember now exactly what he said, but the gist was similar to what this fellow told me today at the library. God had a special call upon my life and would use me to influence many people for Christ.

It would be enough to swell my head were it not for the way these fellows pointed me away from myself and to the cross. I don't know how to interpret these messages, but at the very least they were words of comfort and blessing spoken at critical moments in my life. Whatever gift these guys possess, I like it!

Perhaps it shows the power of encouragement. Maybe we all ought to be a lot more ready to tell our fellow Christians that God loves them, that they are needed in the battle, and that they have the anointing of the Holy Spirit for a special calling. "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver" (Proverbs 25:11, NIV).

Has anything similar happened to you?

Your prayers matter to God

2010-08-18T17:22:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday I preached on prayer from Matthew 6:5-15. I made the point that some Christians struggle with prayer because they don't really "get it," at a deep level, that God is their Father. In other words they don't really get the gospel. Because the more you understand and feel God's love for you, the easier it is to talk to God and take your sins, concerns, needs, and desires to him. Makes sense, right?

But there could be something blocking the gospel from getting to the heart. Take me, for example. When I was growing up, the main emotion I felt when in the presence of my dad was fear. He wasn't physically abusive, but he was very critical and sometimes scathing in his verbal attacks. He had a way of sneering at me that cut holes in my heart. I never felt that I pleased him or made the grade.

When I was in college, money was an issue. I had an on-campus job, but it didn't pay much. My father shelled out a lot of bucks for my four years at the college I attended, and I didn't take out any student loans or win any scholarships. So when I needed spending money, I was afraid to ask my dad for help. I felt it would only make him mad and resentful. So instead of asking for cash, I would sell my record albums. I even sold my Giannini 12-string guitar - a beautiful instrument that I miss very much. It had a deeply resonant sound and was easy on the fingers. I sold it for much less than it was worth - all because I didn't dare go to my father with empty pockets and ask for a handout.

Many of us do the same thing with God. We are afraid to ask for a handout, afraid to go (AGAIN!) and ask for forgiveness, afraid to depend on him in helplessness.

But the Bible says that's exactly what God, our Father, WANTS us to do - depend on him! Jesus says in Matthew 7:9-11, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer essentially as "the offering up of our desires to God...." When you don't tell God what you need, you are denying your legal right as an adopted child of God. Moreover you are denying God the opportunity to do that which glorifies him, namely, to meet the needs of the helpless and empty. If, as John Piper says, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him," then prayerlessness amounts to seeking satisfaction in something besides God and hence denies him glory.

Your prayers matter to God because you do. The gospel makes it possible to pray not with slavish fear but with safety, shamelessness, and joy. Ephesians 3:12 says that because of Jesus "we may approach God with freedom and confidence." Take your desires to God.

The Zookeeper's Wife

2010-08-16T11:31:00.004-04:00

The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman, is subtitled "A War Story." It tells the true story of Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski (pictured below), who lived in Warsaw during the rise and fall of Nazism. They saved over 300 Jews from death in their house and in animal cages.

Using Antonina's diaries and other first-person accounts as a guide, Ackerman tells the historical facts while also taking us into the heart and mind of Antonina. She who was a lover of animals became a lover of victimized human beings. This book reveals both the brutality of German war criminals and the humanity of individuals who would have otherwise been lost to history. At times fearful for her life and that of her husband and son, but always courageous, Antonina Zabinski is an inspiring model of grace and compassion to the suffering.

For those who don't know much about the Warsaw Ghetto or the Jewish Uprising of 1943, this book would serve as an excellent introduction. Ackerman writes in a somewhat detached way of the atrocities suffered by the Jews and Poles, letting the facts speak for themselves. The horrors of those years are utterly inconceivable to me. At one point Ackerman writes this:

Then, one terrible day, a gray rainfall settled on the zoo, a long, slow rain of ash carried on a westerly wind from the burning Jewish Quarter just across the river. Everyone at the villa had friends trapped in that final stage of annihilating Warsaw's 450,000 Jews.

Clearly, the Holocaust is glaring proof of man's total depravity. The brutal, senseless snuffing out of human life, Polish culture and history by the Nazis shows why the even greater atrocity of the cross was required as payment for fallen man's sin.

The Zookeeper's Wife is in many ways a historical recasting of Milton's Paradise Lost. Thankfully, the story is not finished. Jesus is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). As Tolkien put it, everything sad is going to come untrue.

Mexico mission trip

2010-08-13T00:17:00.011-04:00

I was privileged to be part of my church's mission trip to Mexico this summer. We left Orlando on July 31 and returned August 8. We stayed in a nice hotel in downtown Merida the first and last days. The intervening seven days were spent in a little village in the Yucatan Peninsula called Quintana Roo. There were 27 of us. Since this was a family mission trip, we had people of all ages on our team - kids, students, and adults.

Our two main projects were house construction and Vacation Bible School. We worked under the direction of Yucatan Helping Hands, a ministry of Byron (aka "Bruno") and Inez Ahina. Bruno and Inez are amazing, fantastic people. Bruno left his career as an architect in Seattle some years ago to go to Mexico and build houses for poor people. His and Inez's lives and testimonies were a big inspiration to all of us.

It was one of the most fulfilling weeks of my life as well as one of the most back-breaking! We woke up early each day, had a quick breakfast, went to our work sites, and did house construction until 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. Those four or five hours seemed like an eternity to me. I haven't been that hot, tired, and sweaty since my high school football days when we had two-a-day practices in August!

We finished three houses. Each one was made entirely of concrete. Our team's job was to put a roof and pour a floor for each house. The roof was the hardest part. First we had to get long concrete beams in place, then put concrete blocks between the beams. Then we had to mix cement, gravel, sand, and water with shovels (no mixer or wheelbarrows), carry the mixture in buckets up on the roof, and pour two layers on top of the blocks. The final layer of concrete had to be mixed with calcium, which burned our skin. All of this in the blazing sun! The floor wasn't nearly as hard, but it still took a lot of concrete which again had to be mixed and hauled in buckets - a very long, wearying process.

We estimated that 80 kids came to the afternoon VBS program. It was easier physically than house construction but we still faced many challenges, especially thunderstorms that forced us to change plans at the last minute several times. The VBS leaders from UPC did an outstanding job preparing for each day's activities and then coming up with "plan B" when necessary.

In spite of these difficulties, it was satisfying to welcome several families of Quintana into their brand new homes! And the looks on the faces of kids and parents alike made the VBS program worth all the trouble.

Some other highlights of the trip for me:

Staying in the same house as the "young guys" - Caleb, Danny, Victor, Jack, Timothy, and Josue (one of our three Mexican interpreters). It was a great experience for this ol' pastor to share space with them. We slept in handmade hammocks and sweated it out together. The guys often had fun at my expense, but I loved every minute of it.
Swimming in an underground cenote (sinkhole). One afternoon we took a bus ride to this place, walked down rocky steps to an immense cavern with stalactites, bats, and a 70-degree spring. After days of unrelenting heat and sweat, this water was delicious.
Visiting the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. This was our Saturday afternoon activity before returning to Merida at the end of the week. The Mayan temples were fascinating and we had a good guide who spoke openly of his Christian faith.
Getting to preach on Friday night. We had a closing fiesta at La Nueva Jerusalen Presbyterian Church. We had financed the addition of walls and a water system to this church and had partnered with them during the week. It was a rare privilege to preach from Revelation 21 about Jesus making "all things new." I had a Spanish interpreter, of course, because I know maybe 10 words in Spanish.

As I look back on the trip, I think about the great attitude and work ethic of the team from UPC, the warmth and friendliness of the people we met in Quintana, and the chance to participate in God's redemptive program in Mexico. I also think about living more missionally.

This is how I expressed it to the elders of UPC:

The whole of the Christian life ought to be a mission trip. God calls us as his followers to “spend and be spent” in service to Christ and people… to be tired, uncomfortable, loving, and sacrificial all the time – not just one or two weeks out of the year. If UPC is to be a missional church (and we must be), we have to lead our people to be outwardly focused and engaged in blessing others as a way of life. By God’s grace, we must not let UPC go the way of most other American churches: self-absorbed, caught up in material values of comfort and self-centeredness, and immune to the aching needs of the unreached, suffering people around us and throughout the world.

Reunion of high school friends

2010-07-20T22:24:00.007-04:00

During the summers of 1971 and 1972, when I was 17 and 18 years old, I went on trips out west with a bunch of other high school students. The trips were led by an organization called Teens' Camping Tour of the West. A free spirit by the name of C. Peter Cole was the tour leader each time. The trips were three weeks long.

We teens and all our belongings were packed into three VW vans. Each van had a name from the Peanuts comic strip. There was Red Baron, Snoopy, and one other I cannot remember. Two adult leaders were also in each van. We left from Statesville, NC. The 1971 tour was a visit to many of the national parks out west: Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Grand Tetons, etc. The 1972 trip was a tour of the Canadian Rockies - Banff & Jasper National Parks, the Columbian Icefields, and more. We camped out each night under the stars, cooked our own food, shared campsite chores, and pondered the great questions of human experience.

These trips were incredibly formative, unforgettable experiences. My eyes and heart were opened to the majesty of the American West and the meaning of friendship. It is not insignificant that these were profoundly changing times in America. So many cultural and political forces were at work in our lives as we beheld the beauties of a country we'd never seen before. It was the era of drugs, hippies, psychedelic music, antiwar protests, sexual experimentation, Watergate, and so on. So it's no wonder that now, at age 56, I still look back on those two trips out west as a time that helped shaped me into the person I am today and, at a deep level, crystallized my hunger for God.

The first trip was a particularly profound spiritual experience for me. It felt as though I had walked through Narnia's wardrobe into a new and exciting frontier of ideas, dreams, and emotions. I came back to my hometown of Union, SC, a different person. (I also came back madly in love with Susan Jeter, who had gone on the trip with me. A year later she would dump me in one of the most painful experiences of my life, but for now she and I were on Cloud 9.)

Anyway, on to the point of this post...

On these trips, I grew very close to a small group of 4 people from Sanford, NC. Their names were Mary, Karen, Nancy, and David. I got together with this little group a lot during my junior and senior years of high school and into my freshman year of college. We felt we shared a dream that no one else quite understood, a dream that needed to be celebrated, preserved, nurtured.

But like most friendships that develop in your late teens, these relationships gradually faded into the sunset. We lost touch with each other as academic life, then career, marriage, and parenting responsibilities took the place of youthful road trips and carefree camp-outs. I think the last time I saw Karen and Nancy was when they came to visit me at Furman University in (I think) 1973. Soon afterward I fell in love, got engaged, graduated from college and got married - and said my last goodbyes to these friends from the past.

...Or so I thought.

A few years ago Mary and her husband Heinz were passing through Orlando. Through an unlikely series of events we connected, and my wife and I joined them for dinner at an Orlando restaurant. Mary and I reminisced about our experiences of three decades earlier.

Then, about a year ago, I got hold of Nancy's email address and found David and Karen on Facebook, and after an exchange of messages with them and Mary it was decided that we would attempt a reunion this summer. Sure enough, this weekend it's happening. Suzy and I are flying up to Raleigh, NC, and the "old" group is going to spend a long weekend together at Emerald Isle, one of the North Carolina beaches. I'm glad Suzy is going to meet the friends I have spoken of so often.

About the pictures above... All three are from my 1972 trip to the Canadian Rockies. On the pyramid that's Karen at the top, Nancy below her, and David and I are on the bottom row in the center. The group picture in the middle shows trip leader Peter Cole in front, Karen is in the white sweater at the far left, Nancy is standing next to her, I'm the shy-looking guy in the back, and David is the tall guy in the grey sweat-top. Mary is not in either of these photos because she traveled in one of the other vans. The bottom picture is of Mary by herself.

It's not often that friendships are renewed after more than 35 years. I'm looking forward to seeing these people again, sharing our stories, and celebrating the gift of friendship that God has given.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, NIV)

Solitary Man

2010-06-30T17:18:00.003-04:00

The new film starring Michael Douglas, Solitary Man, is a disquieting look at what a lot of people base their lives on: money, sex, and power. I had read a review that said something like it's a movie you will love but not enjoy. I ditto that. I saw the movie last weekend, and I did love it but didn't enjoy it. Because it takes the laminate off the sinful nature that, truthfully, still resides in this heart.

Michael Douglas plays the role of Ben Kalmen, a car salesman who had been at the top of his game but lost everything because of shady deals and illicit love affairs. He's bereft of decency, faithfulness, and empathy. He reminds me of the man Jesus talks about in Luke 12:16-21 - a greedy narcissist. There is redemption here, however. It's offered at the end of the movie by his ex-wife, played by Susan Sarandon. Ben's story demonstrates the truth that "the way up is down."

A particularly sad scene was the one where Ben forgets his grandson's birthday. Ben's daughter, played ably by Jenna Fischer, does a good job of giving tough love to her boundary-ignoring father.

Douglas is perfect for this role because it complements so well his interpretation of Gordon Gecko in 1987's Wall Street.

John Calvin said that the human heart is an idol factory. In Solitary Man, you see the futility of searching for life in the idols of wealth, youth, and sexual freedom. Without God in the center, we are truly solitary. Not only are we alienated from others but we are alienated from God. We must "repent" - that is, return to the God who created us and who alone can fill the aching void in the heart.

What you won't find in the Bible

2010-06-29T11:45:00.002-04:00

Ray Ortlund's recent post on his blog, "Christ Is Deeper Still," is an interesting take on the "one anothers" of the New Testament. As you may know, there are a lot of "one another" statements in the New Testament that tell believers how they ought to treat one another. Examples are "love one another," "bear one another's burdens," "admonish one another," and so forth.

Ray came up with this list of "one anothers" that are NOT in the Bible, yet unfortunately are often practiced by Christians:

"Humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, defeat one another, disapprove of one another, run one another's lives, confess one another's sins, intensify one another's sufferings, point out one another's failings..."

Here are a few more I came up with:

Avoid one another
Gossip about one another
Judge one another
Lose patience with one another
Feel superior to one another

Each one is a call to repentance.

Big Love

2010-06-08T17:14:00.004-04:00

Suzy and I have been renting DVDs of the HBO television series Big Love. We're now into Season 3. The series stars Bill Paxton as Bill Henrickson, a polygamist married to three women. Henrickson is a "reformed" former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and runs a home improvement warehouse business near Salt Lake City. His three wives are (l to r) Nicki, Margene, and Barb. The family is portrayed as inactive Mormons, disaffected with (and rejected by) both the ultra-weird FLDS sect as well as the local mainstream LDS church.

The acting is generally quite good. There is constant drama within the Henrickson household, as well as between the Henricksons and various members of the FLDS cult who live in nearby Juniper Creek. And the neighborhood Mormons are constantly trying to woo the Henricksons back into the LDS fold. In the episode Suzy and I just watched, Bill and his wives are "dating" a potential fourth wife named Ana. We'll see where that leads.

It all makes for a fascinating albeit disturbing expose of both Mormon beliefs and those of its radical FLDS off-shoot.

Coincidentally, I was reading Escape by Carolyn Jessop when we got interested in Big Love. Escape is Jessop's true account of her years in the FLDS and as wife of polygamist Merril Jessop, now the sect's de facto leader. As the title of her book indicates, Carolyn Jessop escaped the tight grip of the cult and her abusive husband a few years ago and started a new life with her eight children.

In Big Love, the Henricksons do not look like their troubled, legalistic counterparts in Juniper Creek. They come off as decent, hard-working, moral people who love their country and love each other. However, under the veneer they are constantly deceiving each other, trying to get their own way, and refusing to deal with the honest questions and struggles of their children. Bill Henrickson is just as chauvinistic, authoritarian, and manipulative as the husbands in the FLDS, he just wears a coat and tie.

The show's writers do a good job of revealing the characters' nagging doubts about the ethics of polygamy. It's like Bill and his three wives must constantly tell themselves, "Polygamy is OK...right?" Methinks they do protest too much their own morality. What is especially telling is the unhappy, promiscuous lifestyles of the Henricksons' teenage children. Of course, that doesn't surprise me. The parents are rarely shown having a meaningful, lengthy dialogue with any of their kids.

If you've forgotten how wonderful is the gospel of grace, or how beautiful is the Biblical pattern of marriage, watch Big Love.

(Disclaimer: If Big Love were a movie, it would be rated R for some sexual dialogue and nudity.)

Michael

2010-04-22T19:44:00.006-04:00

My fourth (and youngest) child, James Michael, turns 21 years old today.

I posted about Michael almost exactly three years ago, when he was about to graduate from high school. Now he's a rising senior at Florida State University. Time has passed quickly. It's been awesome to see Michael grow in maturity, knowledge, talent, and vision for the future.

He is a creative writing major at FSU. I know I'm biased, but his writing is excellent. He's a senior staff writer for the FSU campus newspaper. He writes for the Arts & Life section, where his passion for movies and music shows. Recently he got a big promotion.

Over the years, I have loved all the things Michael and I have done together. We've eaten lots of burgers together. We've seen lots of movies and gone to some concerts together. Last year he, my other son David, and I went skiing in Vermont. In August of last year Michael and I visited Seattle together. I'll never forget walking around the waterfront with him and all the good food we had.

When Michael was little, he played baseball and soccer - all the little kid sports. In high school he developed as an actor and writer. He's a great communicator and wordsmith, an insightful thinker, an amazing dancer, a good singer, a discerning audiophile, a loving uncle to his nieces and nephews, and a guy who cares for his friends and family. One of his qualities I like most is his authenticity. He is not a fake, and I admire that. He's funny, serious, humble, and sensitive. I could go on and on.

Forget his accomplishments; I just love him for the person he is.

Happy birthday Michael. May it always be true of you, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Clash of the Titans

2010-04-12T19:17:00.003-04:00

I wasn't going to do it, but I did it. I went to see Clash of the Titans today. In 3-D, no less.

Like I said on my Facebook status update, it was ridiculously fun. Ridiculous because of the over-the-top special effects and the irony of heavy hitters like Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes having major roles. But also fun because of crazy mythological creatures like Medusa, scorpions, and witches, and the death-defying antics of our hero, Perseus (played by Sam Worthington of Avatar fame).

Actually there's a lot of gospel application in this movie. Perseus is a demigod - both god and man. He is ridiculed, rejected, scorned, and nearly killed by the very people he ends up saving. Perseus has to travel to the underworld to engage evil in hand-to-hand combat. Hades (played by Fiennes) is a horrible, self-centered, deceptive being intent on the destruction of humankind. Zeus (Neeson), the father of Perseus, turns out to be a beneficent (if somewhat naive) god who has the best interest of human beings in mind.

What particularly stood out to me is the way the movie illustrated man's stubborn attempt to live independently of God. The citizens of Argos, early on in the movie, wanted to stop living as though they needed help from the gods. Andromeda, princess of Argos, rebuked her parents and townspeople and called them to honor their creator. But she was largely ignored. The citizens of Argos said they were tired of being thankful. The gods had let them down too many times, so from now on they were going to rely on themselves.

Romans 1: 21 says that "although [human beings] knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." How ironic and sad that we puny little mortals, whose every breath is an unmerited gift from God, think that we don't need God. Like Zeus in Clash of the Titans, God has powerful ways of showing us our weakness. Every now and then he raises up a Kraken to humble us and prove how dependent upon him we really are.

Lucy!

2010-03-24T22:04:00.007-04:00

I'm a granddad to another little girl!

Lucy Elize Page was born around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23, at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital. The proud parents are my daughter Jennifer and her husband Tim. Suzy and I were able to be there (in the waiting room) when Lucy came into the world. She's beautiful and doing great - just a little jaundice issue, but other than that she and Jennifer are doing fine.

The doctor put Jennifer on Pitocin early Tuesday to induce labor. Progress was slow throughout the day. Twelve hours or so later, Jenn was at about 4 cm dilated when Suzy and I decided we had time to run out for a sandwich at a local diner. We had no more sat down and ordered our food when Tim called to say, "Get back over here, Jenn's going to have a c-section!" So we left the diner and hurried back to the hospital in time to help gather up Jennifer's stuff and head to the waiting room. Apparently the baby's heartbeat indicated the possibility of trouble, so a c-section was the right course of action. In no time at all Jennifer was prepped and Lucy was delivered into the world without a hitch.

It was weird, but Jennifer seemed to be the only patient in the Women's Center that night. She and the baby got undivided and caring attention from her doctor and the nurses on duty. I was impressed.

Today everyone was resting up and recovering from the excitement of the night before. I'm so glad Suzy and I were able to be there to help Jennifer & Tim, and to welcome their daughter Lucy into the family.

Jennifer and Tim picked the name "Lucy" partly because of their affection for the Lucy character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. "Elize" was the name of my grandmother on my Dad's side, and it's also Jennifer's middle name.

The name Lucy is derived from "lux," which means light or radiance. I found that in the 4th century A.D. there was a Saint Lucy, the patron saint of the blind, for whom a festival of light is celebrated in some countries today.

Lucy Page, may the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," make his light shine in your heart to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). And in turn may you "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

Grandbaby #5 on the way!

2010-03-23T09:38:00.003-04:00

My daughter Jennifer, due to deliver her baby last Saturday, went to the hospital today (Tuesday) to be induced. So sometime later today, or perhaps early tomorrow, I anticipate that I'll be holding my fifth grandchild in my arms!

Jennifer and her husband Tim didn't want to know the sex of the baby ahead of time. So it'll be a big surprise and a wonderful blessing either way, boy or girl.

What we DO know is that God created this child's inmost being; he knit him or her together in Jennifer's womb. He or she was fearfully and wonderfully made. This child's frame was not hidden from God when he or she was made in the secret place. When he or she was woven together in the depths of the earth, God's eyes saw that unformed body. All the days ordained for this child were written in God's book before one of them came to be.

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:13-17)

Talitha's Baptism

2010-03-17T22:25:00.004-04:00

Last weekend my wife and I drove up to Tallahassee for the baptism of our granddaughter Talitha - our son David and his wife Lindsay's first child. I was honored they had asked me to perform the baptism. Their pastor, Mo Leverett, was kind enough to let me have that honor and to assist by holding the water and asking the congregational question.

I was moved to tears when, after explaining to the church the meaning of baptism as a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, I took Talitha in my arms and looked at David and Lindsay. It was time to ask them the three questions I always ask parents at baptisms. But I lost it. It was simply overwhelming to see how faithful God has been to me and my family. David and Lindsay love Jesus. They are also wonderful parents who will rear Talitha to know and follow Jesus.

As I stood there I also thought of my other children - Rebecca, Jennifer, and Michael - and recalled the promise that God gave Abraham 3,000 years ago: "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you" (Genesis 17:7). God has been good to me beyond my deserving in giving me four wonderful kids. The three oldest ones are married, and they have equally wonderful spouses.

Something that made the baptism extra special was that Mo Leverett sang a song he had written for and about Talitha. It was truly beautiful and moving. Mo is an accomplished singer-songwriter and has made several records. I appreciate how he so thoughtfully ministers to his flock. Shortly after the baptism Mo preached an excellent sermon on Philippians 3:1-11.

After the worship service the whole church celebrated Talitha's baptism with a potluck lunch. I was touched by the love Centerpoint Church has for families like my son's. It's a warm, gospel-loving body trying to reach the urban neighborhoods of Tallahassee.

Lord, thank you for allowing me to experience the truth of Psalm 127:4-5 - "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons [and daughters!] born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

Shutter Island

2010-03-01T15:58:00.002-05:00

What do you get when you cross Martin Scorsese with Alfred Hitchcock, and throw in a little Twilight Zone as well? Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as U. S. Marshal Teddy Daniels.

It's 1954, and Daniels (a veteran of WWII, and still reeling from memories of the liberation of Dachau) is called on to investigate the escape of a patient from a maximum security hospital/prison for the criminally insane located on Boston's Shutter Island.

I really liked this film. I liked the old B-movie look, the haunting music (which perfectly contributes to the foreboding atmosphere), the acting, the special effects, and especially the engaging story. It's not as scary as the previews would lead you to expect. But it's a psychological thriller punctuated with several different disturbing plot lines. Director Scorsese keeps you guessing about what's really going on the whole 138 minutes. I won't give you any clues; you'll have to figure it out for yourself.

One of the underlying themes of the movie is the power of guilt and shame. We deal with our transgressions in all sorts of creative ways, but the point is we must deal with them - either by denial, repentance and faith in Jesus, or something else in between.

Fear is also a big theme of the movie. I like my son's analysis, which I'll quote from his review in the FSU newspaper: "Shutter Island, while obviously no slasher, is deeply, deeply rooted in every fear of the American 20th century, from insanities and lobotomies to the Atomic Bomb to the Holocaust to the advancement of technology to the perils of suburbia...."

Shutter Island is rated R for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity. I didn't find those things objectionable. However, scenes of violence involving children will definitely offend some of you, so be advised.

The Book of Eli

2010-02-06T11:20:00.003-05:00

On my day off I went to see the new Denzel Washington movie, The Book of Eli, with a friend from UPC. This is a movie with a heavy religious element. It's not often that Hollywood treats religion favorably, but here's one case where religious people come off looking like the smart ones and everybody else is shown to be fools.

If you plan to see the movie and want to be surprised, stop reading here because I'm going to give some things away.

I say again, STOP READING HERE!!

OK, so if you're still with me it means you don't plan to see The Book of Eli. The big question, of course, is what book the title refers to. The answer: the Bible. And not just any version of the Bible, but the New King James Version of the Bible. The movie takes you years into the future, after a nuclear holocaust has wiped out most of humanity, scorched the earth, left cities in ruins, and taken most everyone's hope away. The movie suggests that it had been at least in part a religious war, and the Bible was at the center of hostilities. Somehow every single copy of the Scriptures had been burned or destroyed - except one. Eli (Denzel Washington) managed to save that one copy from destruction, so he hid it away in his backpack and guards it with his life. He reads it daily and knows it by heart. Some time back he heard God's voice directing him to take his Bible across the country to the West. So obediently he packs up what few belongings he owns and starts walking across America - or what's left of it anyway. Along the way he meets up with assorted pagan bad guys and protects the book from theft and damage. He's an amazing sharpshooter and an accomplished martial artist who can handle a sword with deadly force.

While this is a religion-friendly film, it's definitely not family-friendly. A lot of blood gets spilled, heads and hands get severed and go flying, and the body count is very high. It's a dark, violent movie filmed without color to give it a post-apocalyptic tone. Not only that, some of the language is offensive. And, the Shyamalan-ish twist at the end of the movie is completely unbelievable - as if you could believe anything else up to that point.

But if you don't mind those things and decide to see the film, what you'll see is a movie with a message that Christians will appreciate: The Word of God is divinely inspired, authoritative, powerful, and life-changing. There's even a scene where Eli prays before a meal. It's a humble, sincere prayer that catches the attention and warms the heart of Eli's traveling companion (played convincingly by Mila Kunis).

Those are the positive elements. On the other hand, I don't remember the name of Jesus ever being mentioned. And at the end of the movie, when Eli finally gets to his destination, the Bible is placed on a shelf alongside the Koran and other religious texts, as if to say that at the end of the day, all religions are equally valid and will get you where you need to go. Also, at one point Eli sums up the entire Bible with the Golden Rule. So he completely misses the meaning of the Bible. The Word of God is not a book of maxims designed to help you get more out of life and become a nicer person. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, our Prophet, Priest, and King. Every page, every story, every psalm, every proverb, every narrative reveals the Savior and our need of him.

Still, I'm willing to give mild kudos to whoever came up with the story. Perhaps some who discredit the Bible or never bother to read it for themselves will pick it up and find it to be the entryway to light (Psalm 119:130).

Reflecting on another birthday

2010-01-23T08:44:00.002-05:00

Today I am 56 years old.

I remember when my parents were in their mid-50s. I thought they were so OLD! Now that I'm that age, I think I'm 32 or so. I don't mean physically, just ... metaphysically. In fact, physically I know I'm aging fast. I have a little arthritic feeling in my finger joints, and when I bang up against the racquetball court wall I feel the effects for days.

Still, I don't feel like I'm 56. I'm still trying to figure life out. When young bucks call me "sir" I stiffen up and want to correct them. I don't know what being 56 should feel like. I think it will take turning 60 to shock me into reality. Gee, that's only four years from now. AAGGHH!

But I like being in my mid-50s. I'm doing what I really enjoy. My wife and I are healthy and active. Three of our four children are happily married and independent. We're able to travel and see them often. I'm able to devote time to God's people and Kingdom expansion. I have great friends. God could take any or all of these privileges away in a heartbeat and still be God, but he has blessed me far more than I deserve.

In a letter to William Farel in 1541, John Calvin wrote: "When I consider that I am not my own, I offer my heart a slain victim for a sacrifice to the Lord . . . I yield my soul chained and bound unto obedience to God."

Lord, that's my prayer to you on this, my 56th birthday.

Avatar

2010-01-17T18:04:00.004-05:00

Many of my friends and church members have asked for my opinion about Avatar, the new James Cameron epic movie about the planet Pandora and the US military-industrial complex plot to destroy its happy culture.

I didn't like it so much.

What?! What's not to like?

For starters, I just don't get all that impressed anymore with whiz-bang special effects that cost billions of dollars to create. And I saw the movie in 3-D on one of the biggest IMAX screens in central Florida. Sure, the computer-generated effects were dazzling. But I'll take a simple story with believable, human characters over this expensive spectacle any day.

As many others have pointed out, the story just isn't all that great. I've seen the same thing many times. Greedy, hateful power-mongers armed to the hilt try to destroy a peaceful, nature-loving people and get chased away with bows and arrows. And I really didn't care all that much for any of the characters. (And the bad guys are after unobtainium? Give me a break!)

And here's another thing... I'm offended by the caricatured portrait of evil, capitalist, imperialistic America that (in my opinion anyway) is the sub-plot of Avatar. Movies have amazing power to reconstruct history. That's not Hollywood's fault, but there's little doubt that Hollywood is populated by influential people who don't care for this country or its story. I wonder which view of America is the predominant one among young people today: America as the friend of countries like earthquake-ravaged Haiti, oppressed Iraq and Afghanistan, and Holocaust-decimated Israel; or America as the evil empire that exterminated the Native Americans and bombed North Vietnam? It bothers me that people who have no problem enjoying the vast benefits of capitalism and military security turn around and lob a hateful critique at capitalism and the military. And that's what Avatar is, it seems to me.

I didn't say anything about the religion that permeates Avatar. Actually, this is the one thing I did appreciate about the movie: once again, we see that even pagan filmmakers cannot help it that their slip is showing. That is, the image of God in human beings is inescapable. It shows up in movies, art, and stories of all kinds. We instinctively know there is a God who is the source of all life and to whom we are ultimately accountable. Romans 1 says that we resist this knowledge. We try to suppress that still, small voice that whispers, "There's Something (or Someone) out there." We try to silence our conscience that tells us we are sinful. But every so often that image of God leaks out. James Cameron has invented a world in which all creation is somehow connected to a Source. It's a world in which people pray to a Being that actually intervenes in time and space. It's a world in which people die and come back to life, a world of breathtaking beauty, of loving community, of peace and justice.

Followers of Jesus know that what Avatar promises, Christianity provides.

The Lovely Bones

2010-01-17T17:20:00.002-05:00

The Lovely Bones is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. My friends know how much I like movies, and that I'm always looking for redemptive themes and reasons to like a movie. Not so this time.

I echo what Roger Ebert had to say about this movie: "The Lovely Bones is a deplorable film with this message: If you're a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer, you have a lot to look forward to."

Here's what happens: Fourteen-year old Susie gets murdered by a neighbor (played well by Stanley Tucci), her spirit goes to "the in-between place" - a beautiful world that director Peter Jackson (yes, of Lord of the Rings fame) spends WAY too much time showing us - while her parents try to figure out who killed her. Of course, it's no mystery to the audience; there's no one else in the cast that could have possibly murdered the girl. So there's no suspense on that point. The only mildly suspenseful moment occurs when Susie's sister breaks into the murderer's home and discovers (implausibly, I might add) something that gives him away.

So many stupid things happen in this movie that people in the audience were actually laughing by the end. Which is tragic, because the film revolves around an utterly unbearable, disgusting, evil event. There are several strange comedic moments, including - believe it or not - a soap suds fight between Grandma (played by Susan Sarandon) and Susie's little brother - a scene that had no business being in a film about a serial killer. It's always fun to see another soap suds fight in a movie, right?

If the film reflects Peter Jackson's view of the afterlife, it's especially sad. The "gospel" according to Jackson is that if you're a good person (meaning you love your family, develop your talents, and stay out of trouble) you get to go to an impersonal, lonely place and look on as people on earth reel hopelessly from grief and injustice. There's no God on earth nor in the "in-between place" - nor, presumably, in heaven (which doesn't ever come into view here). Tragic events on earth have no purpose; there is no sovereign God, not even a Force, that helps things make sense.

Christianity, on the other hand, does not cover up the unthinkable horror of rape and murder by inviting us to a psychedelic afterlife. It says instead that there is a loving, personal God who was himself brutally murdered and who daily steps into our pain and provides real hope through the cross. Meanwhile the saints in heaven cry, "How long?" But when Jesus Christ is revealed and the creation's groaning ceases, we will experience a renewed earth where righteousness prevails.

Brothers

2009-12-22T23:40:00.005-05:00

I was not terribly excited about seeing Brothers today. My wife and I were in Jacksonville visiting our daughter and son-in-law, and we decided to go see a movie. This was the only one that halfway appealed to us. I'd read several ho-hum reviews of the film, so I was expecting to be disappointed.

Not only was I not disappointed; Brothers is an excellent movie. We were all caught up in this well-acted, tense, moving drama. It's rated R for language and violence. I did not feel there was anything inappropriate here considering the setting and story.

Brothers stars Tobey Maguire as Marine captain Sam Cahill, called into duty in Afghanistan; Natalie Portman is his wife Grace; and Jake Gyllenhaal is Sam's brother Tommy. Sam and Grace have two young daughters named Isabelle and Maggie. They are played by amazing little actresses who show an incredible range of emotion and sincerity. They brought me to tears a couple of times.

Here's the story (without spoilers): While in Afghanistan, Sam's helicopter is shot down by Taliban fighters, but somehow Sam survives and is taken prisoner. However, he is reported back home as killed in action. Naturally Grace and the girls are devastated. Sam's younger brother Tommy, on parole for robbing a bank, is transformed by the event and becomes the family protector and surrogate father for the little girls. When the news arrives that Sam is not dead after all, the stage is set for all kinds of personal and family drama.

I can't say much more without spoiling the movie for you.

Among other things, Brothers is a study in family systems. The relationships Sam and Tommy have with their father Hank (played ably by Sam Shepard) are performance-based. You see how a lifetime of conditional love affected the two brothers entirely differently - one becoming a military leader, the other a deadbeat - yet neither brother has a healthy relationship with their father.

Sam and Tommy thus illustrate the two brothers in the Prodigal Son story of Luke 15. Jesus told that story to show that both the moral person and the immoral person need the gospel. Sam and Tommy's very different stories intersect at the point of deep spiritual need. Neither one has the kind of relationship with their father that can carry them through the traumatic events that unfold here. However, they do have each other, so the movie is a touching look at the nature of brotherly love.

The movie is also a study in the nature and effects of guilt. But that's all I'll say about that.

See Brothers. It's raw and emotional, but I think you'll love it as much as I did. My wife and I walked out of the theater almost trembling from the tension, heartache, and energy of this movie.

Guitar

2009-12-17T17:32:00.007-05:00

This is my Christmas present from Suzy - an Epiphone SG (G-400) electric guitar. I had told her that's what I wanted this year, and she let me pick it out. I found it used on Craigslist. It's in really fine shape, and I like the look and feel of it. The action is really good and it has a nice sound.

I've played guitar since I was little, but I've never owned an electric guitar. My brother had a nice Gibson electric which I played from time to time, but this is my first. Epiphone is owned by Gibson, and the guitar I bought is patterned after the 1962 Gibson SG.

Christmas decorating

2009-12-17T17:07:00.004-05:00

I finally got around to putting our lights up on the house for Christmas. I'm always the last one on my cul-de-sac to do this. One of my neighbors had his house all decked out before Thanksgiving. Suzy and I typically seem to wait until Christmas is two weeks (or less) away. I doubt we would decorate our house at all were it not for the fact that we host a couple of Christmas parties in our house every year! Well, that's not true. I would keep putting it off, but eventually I would get around to it.

I have great memories of Christmas during my childhood - until I went away to college. That's when my parents did what I'm doing now... slacking off.

It had been a great tradition for my dad and my brother to go out together and chop down a Christmas tree on some property Dad's company owned out in the country. I was sad when he no longer wanted to do that. But I can understand it now. A few years ago, Suzy and I did the unthinkable: we bought a fake tree.

I knew my parents were really getting older when they didn't even bother to put up a fake Christmas tree. Instead, they bought a dinky little 6" thing and put it on a table.

Please, if I ever do that, hit me over the head.

This year we went in with all our neighbors and bought luminaries to benefit the local school PTA. You can see a few of them in this picture. Seeing every house in the neighborhood displaying their luminaries was pretty cool.

This Is It

2009-11-18T09:35:00.002-05:00

I've always been a half-hearted Michael Jackson fan. I love many of his songs ("Thriller," "Billie Jean," "Leave Me Alone," "Remember the Time," etc.). But like everyone else in the world, I'm weirded out by the oddball habits he acquired in the latter part of his tragic life, by his appearance, and (especially) by his relationship choices. He's a study in all kinds of psychological phenomena. He was an angry, messed up man and a victim of untold abuses by family members and fans. And many of his songs - the syrupy-sweet and socio-political commentary ones in particular - grate on my nerves.

So when my wife and I went to see the new documentary movie This Is It, my expectations were low and my defenses high.

But I want to see it again. It was that good.

I liked just about everything about this behind-the-scenes look at MJ's rehearsals for the 50-date tour that never happened. From a technical standpoint it's a fascinating movie to watch. I love documentaries anyway, and this is one of the best ever made. You see a lot of the work that goes into mega-concerts and you come away with a great appreciation for the talent and skill of concert producers. Plus MJ's songs sound really excellent here. I was not expecting to hear such great sound and clarity. The musicians, dancers, and singers he recruited for the tour are amazing, especially a female guitar player that stands out. Michael's voice is sometimes flat, but he explains several times that he's trying to save his voice for the real thing, and you believe him.

Even Michael the man comes off impressively in the movie. He's a perfectionist but a gentle one. He knows what he wants but he's not arrogant about it. He compliments people and, best of all, you like him. His dancing is understated here, but once again you realize that if this were the real concert he'd amaze us. I expected him to look more sickly than he does in the film. He's thin but not emaciated. The movie leaves us with the Michael Jackson we all wanted him to be and wished he could be.

Of course, the whole movie is tinged with sadness because you know, the whole time you're watching the movie, that the show did not go on. All that work, all that talent, all that time went into a concert tour that never happened because of Jackson's untimely death on June 25 of this year - less than three weeks before the London kick-off of the This Is It tour. Because of the mystery surrounding his death, you're left with unanswered questions. My wife and I wonder if MJ took his own life because he feared the failure of the concert tour. Or was it his final act of rage and revenge against his abusive parents? We'll never know.

Michael Jackson's life and music stand as a testimony to the reality of God's common grace and to the sadness of a life lived to the glory of man rather than God.

More Talitha

2009-11-08T10:38:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple recent shots of my new granddaughter Talitha. I left for Japan a few days after she was born, so I miss her very much! Suzy was able to spend some time with David, Lindsay, and Talitha while I've been gone.

Greetings from Japan

2009-10-31T18:06:00.002-04:00

I'm in Chiba, Japan, assisting with the Japan Church Planting Institute November 2-7. Not much to say yet, as it was late afternoon yesterday when I arrived at Tokyo's Narita Airport and it was already getting dark. It's now early morning on Sunday, and I'm preparing to preach at the Oyumino Alive church in Chiba.

But this is funny. I woke up early and got on Facebook. I wanted to make the next move in online Scrabble, which I play with my daughter Rebecca. I got this message that said "Error: Invalid Country."

So Japan is an invalid country?! Not to God.

Japan is only .4% Christian, but it's a valid place for the gospel and full of valid, God-created people. I pray God will fill me and the team with love and energy to spread his gospel.

Talitha

2009-10-25T23:13:00.007-04:00

This past Friday, October 23, my granddaughter Talitha Kelsi Osborne was born to my son David and his wife Lindsay. Talitha weighed in at 7 lbs., 7 ounces. She was just under 20" long. As you can see in this picture, she has lots of very dark brown hair. I think she's beautiful. And of course that's a perfectly objective, unprejudiced assessment.

David and Lindsay live in Tallahassee, Florida. My wife and I drove up there on Friday as Lindsay was in labor. She delivered Talitha at 9:05 p.m.

Many people have asked about the name "Talitha." David and Lindsay pronounce it with the accent on the first syllable (TAL - i - tha). The name is found in the Bible in Mark 5. In that chapter, Jairus, a synagogue ruler, comes to Jesus and pleads for him to heal his 12-year old daughter who is dying. While Jesus is on his way to Jairus' house, he stops to heal a woman who has had an issue of blood for many years. Meanwhile, Jairus' daughter dies. Nevertheless, Jesus goes to her and raises her from the dead. In Mark 5:41-42, we read:

"He took her by the hand and said to her, 'Talitha koum!' (which means, 'Little girl, I say to you, get up!'). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around."

So whether "Talitha" was the actual name of Jairus' daughter or not, it means "little girl" in Aramaic. Whenever I think of Talitha I think of Jesus giving his love, power, and life to one who is lost, empty, and without hope. In other words, the gospel is bound up in that one word "Talitha."

It was such a moving experience holding Talitha in my arms. For one thing, this is the first child of my first son. Just watching David and his wife go through this enormously life-changing event gives me chill bumps. But added to that is the memory of my own first childbirth experience, and knowing that now David and Lindsay get to have that. The whole thing is solemn, joyous, sacramental. Each day with your first baby is a brand new discovery, at once exhausting and exhilarating.

All my other children were there this weekend for the big event: Rebecca with her 3 kids, Jennifer (pregnant, due in March), and Michael.

I am a very blessed man indeed. To live to see my children's children is a rare privilege. To know that my children are walking with God and rearing their kids to do the same is even rarer.

The Soloist

2009-10-19T10:03:00.007-04:00

The Soloist is a story about homelessness. It's a story about mental illness. It's a story about friendship, and music, and family, and the power of words. It's a (true) story about a musician named Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr. and his "unlikely friendship" with a journalist from the Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez. Above all it's a story about grace.

Jamie Foxx stars as Ayers, and Robert Downey Jr. is Lopez. Both give sensitive, genuine portrayals of their characters. It's directed by Joe Wright, who also directed Atonement, one of my all-time favorite movies.

Nathaniel Ayers grew up in poverty in Cleveland. He was a musical prodigy. After completing high school he attended Ohio University on a music scholarship. Then in 1970, at the age of 19, he was accepted in NYC's prestigious Julliard School of Music, one of the few African American students there.

Ayers was trained to play the double bass but taught himself to play cello, trumpet, violin, drums, and harmonica. Every indication was that Nathaniel Ayers was bound for a lifelong career in a famous orchestra. But two years into his time at Julliard, something went wrong. The pressure of studies started getting to him. Known to be a fastidious dresser, he began to show up for class disheveled and unbathed. His grades took a nosedive. He grew angry and confrontational. He started hearing voices in his head. He talked incessantly and drew graffiti all over his living quarters.

One night Ayers snapped. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and given heavy doses of Thorazine. It didn't help. They gave him shock treatments, which only frightened him and turned him into a zombie. He ended up back in Cleveland, then drifted to the streets of California, lugging battered musical instruments with him. Finally Ayers settled in the streets of LA, sleeping in the tunnel under 2nd Street, beating the rats away with drumsticks, and playing his violin for the pigeons and anyone else who happened by.

One day in 2005, Steve Lopez heard Ayers playing his violin in Pershing Square next to the statue of Beethoven. And thus began the relationship that led to Lopez writing articles for the Times, then a book, a piece on the CBS show 60 Minutes, and this movie, The Soloist.

Watching the movie was an experience on several levels. For one thing, it's just an amazing story about an amazing person. Deeper than that, it moved me to look at homelessness in a new light. I tend to be dismissive of, impatient with, and offended by these people. Through the eyes of Steve Lopez, I saw them as fellow human beings who happened to have not had some of the advantages I did, who are suffering and desperate and need help.

Deeper still, The Soloist reminded me that I am the desperate one in need of grace.

At one point in the movie, Lopez tells his ex-wife of the profound experience of something that he's had in his relationship with Ayers. "What is it?" he asks. She says, "Sounds like grace."

How right she is. Grace is the connecting spark between someone who is desperate and someone else who cares no matter what. That's what Lopez experienced as Nathaniel Ayers - initially just the subject of a newspaper column - soon became a friend. And that's why The Soloist is a fresh bath in the gospel.

Sunshine Cleaning

2009-10-16T22:36:00.003-04:00

Talk about pushing buttons, Sunshine Cleaning hits them all... death, suicide, family, God, the afterlife, poverty, sex, friendship, yearnings, dreams, loneliness, and more. It's a movie that touches on lots of heart issues. It hit me hard and I loved it.

The acting is great. Amy Adams plays Rose Lorkowski, a single mom trying to establish herself and raise her little boy while facing challenges on several fronts. She and her sister Nora (played by Emily Blunt) wind up starting a "biohazard removal" business, i.e., cleaning up bloody crime scenes. Meanwhile we find out what's eating away at their souls: when they were little girls their mother committed suicide. Ever since, Rose and Nora have searched for something or someone to take away their heartache.

Really, each character in the movie is yearning for God, they just don't know it. Parents, friends, lovers, and careers all prove unfaithful in some way. In a telling scene, Rose picks up a CB radio and talks to the heavens, hoping her mother is listening. The gospel hears and replies, "God is."

I'm struck by how well Sunshine Cleaning depicts our fallen world. Like a horrific crime scene, signs and symbols of death are everywhere we look. Beauty has been defaced. The creation has been ruined by sin. But it's into this smelly, rotten world that Jesus came to bring sunshine and clean up the mess.

At present, as the author of Hebrews says, "we do not see everything subject to him" (Heb. 2:8). That is, the cleanup process has only begun; there's a lot more carnage yet to be removed. But if we look carefully "we see Jesus, [who tasted] death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9). In other words, the incarnation means that we are not alone in this crime scene called earth. Jesus experienced our sadness and loss on the cross, and rose again to offer hope to all who call on him.

(Caution: Sunshine Cleaning is rated R for language, disturbing images, some sexuality and drug use.)

Tyler is 8!

2009-10-02T18:00:00.006-04:00

It was one of the proudest moments of my life when my first grandchild was born. The date was October 2, 2001. My daughter Rebecca and her husband Scott were living in Jackson, Mississippi, when Rebecca gave birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl named Tyler Suzanne. She turned eight years old today.

I've told you about Tyler be fore (and here, as well as other briefer mentions). She's quite a special girl, with many outstanding qualities.

For instance, God has gifted Tyler with a tender and loving heart. She cares for her two brothers with incredible tolerance and patience (often convicting me of my own lack thereof!).

She also fits the description in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 of love that is not proud, rude, or self-seeking. Tyler is a humble person, always seeing the good in other people and situations. When the family goes on long car trips, Tyler is patient and cheerful, finding things to keep herself occupied and rarely complaining about anything.

She's an amazing reader. Rebecca and Scott have read to their kids for years, and Tyler has picked up a love for books. She's read dozens of books way above her age level in difficulty.

Another thing that makes Tyler special is the way she brings joy to others. Her smile is contagious, and her positive attitude makes others feel better just by being around her. In a word, she is radiant.

Well, I could brag forever. But I thank God for bringing Tyler into our extended family. Happy birthday, Tyler Suzanne. May you forever be "clothed with strength and dignity" and "laugh at the days to come" (Proverbs 31:25).

How to help your kids treasure God's Word

2009-09-29T02:38:00.003-04:00

One of the things that's a bit frustrating about preaching is that I always have more to say than time to say it. My friend and former boss Mark Bates refers to this as leaving material on the cutting-room floor. Every Sunday there's at least another 10 minutes worth of sermon that I wish I had time to deliver. Perhaps we should all move to Africa where Christians don't check their watches during the sermon.

Anyway, last Sunday my sermon was about how to study the Bible. My text was the familiar story in Luke 10:38-42 about Mary sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to his words. I used this sermon as an opportunity to teach a method of Bible study often referred to as the inductive method.

What I wanted to add, but didn't have time, was that parents play a critical role in helping their kids develop a love for the Scriptures. The five steps of Bible study that I outlined in my sermon could easily be applied in the context of family devotions. Fathers (or mothers, in the case of single moms) should get the family together in the evening, read a passage of Scripture, and ask one or more of the questions that I cited during my sermon. This way, rather than making the kids sit still and listen as Dad shares what he thinks the passage is saying, the whole family embarks on an adventure of discovery. Another benefit of doing this is that the kids learn a method of Bible study they can use on their own.

One of my regrets is that I did not do this kind of thing enough when my children were little. We had family devotions, but I did not read through books of the Bible, asking thoughtful questions and initiating family Bible study. So if you are a parent of young children, learn from my mistake. Seize the opportunity to build Bible reading into your family's daily routine. If your kids are involved in a regular discipline of family Bible study, they will carry that habit into adulthood and be well equipped to face the challenges of life.

The sweetness of God's Word

2009-09-26T16:59:00.004-04:00

I ran across this excerpt from Jonathan Edwards' Personal Narrative. It speaks so eloquently of the value Edwards saw in the Word of God:

“Oftentimes in reading [the Bible], every word seemed to touch my heart. I felt a harmony between something in my heart, and those sweet and powerful words. I seemed often to see so much light exhibited in every sentence, and such refreshing food communicated, that I could not get along in reading; often dwelling long on one sentence, to see the wonders contained in it; yet almost every sentence seemed to be full of wonders."

I pray that God will so move in my life that I will discover and taste and relish the wonders in every sentence of God's Word, the Bible.

New UPC website

2009-09-25T22:38:00.002-04:00

Our church has a new website, thanks to a bunch of our guys that gave away hours and hours and hours of their time (I really should say months) to design and develop it.

I love it. I've looked at a lot of church websites and, if I do say so myself, this is one of the best. It's good looking and it's easy to navigate. Plus we have a "My Story" section where church members can share testimonies about things they've experienced and learned. I hope we can put up a new story every week.

I admire people who can do technical stuff like designing websites. Especially when they use their gifts and passions to benefit the church and extend the Kingdom.

Oh, there's a "Mike's Blog" section of the new website too. Which means that sometimes I'll post things on my church blog that I would have posted here, and vice versa. But in general, I'll use the church blog to share thoughts related to UPC, and I'll use my Greener Grass blog to post movie and book reviews, family-related stuff, and various other topics of (perhaps) wider interest.

David passed the bar!

2009-09-21T20:24:00.003-04:00

My son David learned today that he passed the Florida Bar exam. It was the culmination of three years of law school at Florida State University, followed by tons of studying to prepare for the bar.

David graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2003 with a degree in political science. He worked in Orlando for a few years for Congressman Ric Keller. Meanwhile he got married to our favorite daughter-in-law, Lindsay Gumport. They're expecting their first baby in mid-October.

Now David needs a job. If you know of an opportunity for a Christian who wants to influence law and politics, let me know.

Pictured above are David and Lindsay at David's graduation from law school earlier this year.

Way to go, David & Lindsay! I'm super proud of both of you.

Grizzly Man

2009-09-21T16:58:00.005-04:00

For thirteen seasons, a Californian named Timothy Treadwell (real name: Timothy Dexter) traveled to the Katmai National Park & Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula to live among grizzly bears. Treadwell was something of an eco-warrior and claimed a special understanding of grizzlies. He got up close to them, talked to them, filmed them, named them, and felt called to be their special protector from poachers and tourists.

Over 100 hours of video footage shot by Treadwell was obtained by filmmaker Werner Herzog and used to create the documentary Grizzly Man in 2005. I watched it with my wife, son, and daughter-in-law last week. It's hilarious at times, disturbing at times, and tragic throughout.

Hilarious because it has the look and feel of one of those "mockumentaries" directed by Christopher Guest (e.g., A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, etc.). We sat there watching the DVD and often said to each other amidst laughter, "This CAN'T be true!" There's one scene that's especially funny, where a guy talks calmly about all the people found inside one of the dead grizzlies.

But aside from the funny moments, of which there are many, it was sad and disturbing to watch the deterioration of Treadwell into a man completely deceived by his hollow worldview. He grew so in love with grizzly bears that he lost hold on reality. To him, grizzlies were the intelligent, virtuous creatures and human beings were the evil, ignorant, land-grabbing, environment-destroying, bear-killing capitalists. Treadwell perfectly illustrates Romans 1:25 - "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen."

If you rent Grizzly Man, be forewarned: A LOT of profanity comes out of Timothy Treadwell - this sweet, nature-loving environmentalist - especially at one point where he curses the park rangers and just about everything else that walks on two legs (but him). Sadly, Treadwell's video footage shows him to be the very opposite of what he claims to be.

About halfway into the film, after you figure out this guy Treadwell was for real, things get very interesting. Herzog interviews the people who knew Treadwell best. They are a mixture of critics and devotees. And then you find out what happened to Treadwell. In October, 2003, he and his female companion got attacked, killed, and eaten by one (maybe two) of the grizzlies. Of course that wasn't captured on video. But if you're in a sadistic mood, you can listen to what purports to be nearly two minutes of audio, supposedly captured by a camera Treadwell left running inside his backpack. (I seriously doubt it is genuine, however.)

For an interesting interpretation of Treadwell and what happened to him, go here.

Mother (1925-2003)

2009-09-17T23:22:00.002-04:00

My mother passed away six years ago tomorrow (September 18, 2003). She was just a few days shy of turning 78 when she died. Normally a healthy woman whom I predicted would outlive me, she died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. She was visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Tennessee when it happened. Needless to say, her death was completely unexpected. My brother and I had just been through the passing of our father, and now we had to hurriedly arrange for another funeral, clean out the family home in Union, South Carolina, sell the house, and adjust to life without parents.

Mother was born in Greenville, SC, and lived all her life in that state. She graduated from Greenville High School and Furman University (my college alma mater). She and my father were married for something like 52 years.

She had a tough childhood. Her father was an alcoholic who left his family when Mother was only four or five years old. My grandmother raised my mom and her brother pretty much by herself, during some hard years in our nation's history.

Several positive qualities stand out when I think of my mom's life and character. She had incredible drive. When she set about a task, such as cleaning the house or writing poetry or serving on the board of the town library, she went all out. She was organized to a fault. She categorized and recorded all sorts of things, from favorite recipes to newspaper articles about my brother and me to coupons to medical records. She devoted lots of time to causes, church activities, and supporting my dad's career (he owned and managed the hometown AM radio station). She loved serving. Her vocabulary was unbelievable. No one could beat her at Scrabble or crossword puzzles. She was a poet. She succeeded in getting a few of her poems published in South Carolina journals. My brother and I found tons of rough drafts and finished poems among her papers after she died, things she'd never shown us or shared with anyone during her lifetime.

There were things about Mother I didn't like at all. She was not a warm person, and she could be terribly manipulative and controlling. But considering the things she endured as a child and young adult, I'm not surprised. She was faithful to my dad, devoted to her kids, and a model in many areas of her life. After Dad passed away in 2000, she grew both lonelier yet more mellow and fun to be around. My favorite memory is the time in 2001 my wife and I took Mother to Orlando's SAK Comedy Lab. She laughed her head off, like I'd never heard her laugh before. It was a healing, delightful night.

Thanks, God, for memories of a loving mother.

(500) Days of Summer

2009-09-14T08:53:00.004-04:00

My wife and I went to see (500) Days of Summer the other day. It's a romantic comedy about the up-and- down relationship between two 20-somethings named Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel).

Some things I liked about the movie:

The development of Tom and Summer's relationship was done in a really creative way.
The acting was good.
There were some pretty funny scenes.
You learn the value of friendship, love, and honesty.
OK, Zooey is really pretty.

But here's what I didn't like: Tom and Summer toy with each other's emotions and sexuality outside of marriage, choosing convenience and pleasure over commitment. And while all the damage is neatly cleaned up and packaged with a nice bow on it at the end of the movie, thousands of people in counseling rooms today can attest to the damage that such playing-around with intimacy leaves behind.

Instead of loving herself enough to have boundaries, Summer teases Tom again and again with a "maybe I will, maybe I won't" attitude that (understandably) drives Tom crazy. Tom, on the other hand, fails to play the man and call Summer to commitment and integrity.

It makes me sad that Tom and Summer are typical of many couples who unveil their deepest hearts to each other, wanting to experience the benefits and delights of marriage, but are so afraid of commitment that they refuse to go to the altar to be held accountable by each other, their friends, their relatives, and God.

I know. Many people say they don't want to get married until they're sure they've met the "right" person. So when a guy and girl meet and start getting close, they often move in together and try it out for a while. After all, doesn't it make sense to take a test drive before you buy a car? According to a recent study by the University of Denver, 70% of couples are living together before marriage these days.

The problem is that even when you buy a car, you don't know all there is to know about that car regardless of how many test drives you take. There's always the risk - in fact, the certainty - that some problem is hiding under the hood, waiting to disappoint you some months or years down the road. That's life. Nobody's not a lemon. Marriage by definition is the union of two incompatible people who decide to work at getting compatible. My wife and I discovered long ago that that's a lifelong process. Nearly every day we discover things about each other that we like and other things we don't like. Love is a decision to stay faithful to our marriage vows in spite of the things we don't like. That's part of the adventure, as well as the chaos. You'll never meet "Mr. Right" or "Ms. Right," if by that you mean someone who doesn't have some serious flaws.

Interestingly, the University of Denver study referred to above found that

"...couples who live together before they are engaged have a higher chance of getting divorced than those who wait until they are married to live together, or at least wait until they are engaged. In addition, couples who lived together before engagement and then married reported a lower level of satisfaction in their marriages."

That shouldn't surprise us. God's directions really work. So if you're single (and if you don't want to stay that way), find someone you're reasonably sure you'd like to spend the rest of your life with. Hold that person and yourself accountable to sexual purity while you date and get to know each other better. Then get married. Don't keep putting it off; in the Bible's down-to-earth language, "it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (1 Corinthians 7:9).

Why are we here?

2009-09-04T10:47:00.009-04:00

Since I'm a pastor, I do a lot of thinking about the purpose and mission of the church - my church particularly. I was able to take a sabbatical this summer. A sabbatical (a break from the normal everyday stuff) is good because it helps you separate the things that are most important from the things that are less important. So I did a good bit of thinking, praying, and writing about the things that are most important for our church.

I put my reflections on paper and have been sharing them with others in leadership. I'd like to post them on my blog for you to read too. Since they deal with different subjects I will break them up into smaller pieces and, when necessary, add some commentary. I welcome your feedback.

Here's the first piece:

What must be the focus of UPC? Winning, equipping, empowering, and sending mature followers of Christ (i.e., disciples) into east Orlando and around the world who are deeply grounded in the gospel and armed with a rich theology, love for God and neighbor, and the know-how to help unchurched people become friends and friends become followers of Jesus – the goal being nothing short of the transformation of the entire culture to the glory of God.

Simply put, our purpose is to obey the Great Commission. We are here to grow the Kingdom of God. Our mission is to:

o Win – convert, attract, persuade

o Equip – build, develop, establish, disciple

o Empower – enfold, enlist, identify gifts

o Send – deploy, commission, anoint

To borrow from Mark Driscoll, “The mission of [UPC] is nothing less than bringing the entire world to Christian faith and maturity.”

To do this, we need constantly to remind ourselves why we’re here: not for ourselves, but for those outside the family of God. As Jesus came not for the healthy but the sick, so must we reach outside our walls to those who do not know the Savior. We are here for them. It’s not about UPC. We are here not to be served, but to serve. It’s time to turn the arrows out.

We also need to be clear that we want to win lost people, not steal disgruntled sheep. This will necessarily require that we constantly contextualize the gospel. We will speak to the needs, concerns, and problems of our east Orlando culture. We will keep our message consistent with the Word of God, while freely adjusting our methods with the unchurched resident of east Orlando in mind. It also means we will take whatever risks are necessary and pay whatever price is required to reach non-Christians in our community and throughout the world.

I don't know what risks God may be calling us to take. But I do know this: it's time to make some hard choices. Our church is 18 years old. We are like that 18-year son or daughter who must decide whether to live for self or for others. It is very tempting for us to say to ourselves, like the rich fool of Luke 12, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But that would be a denial of Jesus' plan for his church.

We're at a critical place. Let's ask ourselves:

Do we exist primarily for ourselves or for lost people?
Will we grow by programming or by relationships?
Do we want people to go to UPC, or from UPC? (see the difference?)
Will our ambition be to build a church, or disciples?
Will we stay the same and be comfortable, or be willing to change and welcome the conflict it may bring?

Let's turn the arrows out.

Tell your story

2009-08-21T17:38:00.004-04:00

It's Day 2 of Dan Allender's "Story Workshop." It's pretty exhausting, not just because of the long days but because in our small groups we go deeply into each other's story.

By that word "story," what Allender is talking about is the narrative or chief themes of our lives crystallized into one slice or piece of that narrative. I am writing a story about a time in high school when I felt publicly humiliated and my father did not come to my rescue. That story reveals a recurring theme of shame, perfectionism, and failure that has run through my life.

Here are four things about story that I'm learning:

God has written my story. Even though there's evil in it, my story has been authored by a sovereign, loving, often mysterious God. The Bible teaches this. As Job reminded his wife, the Lord both gives and takes away. I can trust that things haven't happened randomly and purposelessly. I may not know the purpose behind things that happen (and probably don't). I may not like the purpose. But the Author of my story knows best.
God has written my story to reveal his goodness. My story contains themes of death, resurrection, and ascension. The more I understand and the better I explore those themes, the more I get to know Jesus and his work in my life.
My story is not over. I continue to partner with God in the writing of my story everyday. This is sort of like the popular saying, "Be patient with me; God's not finished with me yet." The mysterious thing about life with God is that even though he's already written my story, my choices matter. It's the old antinomy: God is sovereign, yet we are responsible. In partnership with God, I can shape my future.
My story is inconceivably beautiful. To use C. S. Lewis's words, it bears a "weight of glory." However, I don't believe this about my story ... just as you don't believe it about yours. Dan Allender put it like this: "You can't know the beauty of your story apart from others reading it." I cannot interpret my story alone. I need others to hear my story, see how it reveals God's goodness, and help me shape my story in the future. Lewis writes,

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you see it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."

This is why we need to share our stories with each other - to help us see the glory of our own story, and to point each other to the great Author of our stories.

Seattle Day 1

2009-08-19T23:23:00.004-04:00

I flew out of Orlando at 7:30 AM today bound for Seattle, to begin the last piece of my sabbatical. Tomorrow is the first day of "The Story Workshop" at Mars Hill Graduate School. It's a workshop based on the book by Dan Allender entitled To Be Told: Know Your Story, Shape Your Future.

Hopefully the rest of my time in Seattle won't be the disaster today was. For one thing, my baggage didn't show up at the Seattle airport. That's never happened to me before. I think I know what happened. I flew American Airlines from Orlando to Miami, changed planes and flew Alaska Airlines from Miami to Seattle. I think the Alaska folks dropped the pass from American at MIA. So I'm still waiting for a call from Alaska Airlines saying "We've found your bags!" So far, I haven't heard from them.

Another thing that happened: The hotel didn't have a record of my reservation. I had reserved a room at a Best Western hotel in Seattle through CheapTickets.com. I think I know where that name "Cheap" came from. Somebody at CT.com forgot to let the Best Western folks know I needed a place to stay. Thankfully, after a phone call to the Cheap guys and a long time being put on hold, I got it straightened out. I'm writing this in my room... and they have free WiFi!

My son Michael came here with me. He's going to check out the city while I'm slaving away in the workshop each day. We'll be here until Monday.

I'm looking forward to the workshop because it will help me take a closer look at the themes that God has written into my life and be more purposeful with my life in the future. I'm also hoping that my story can help others understand and share their stories.

I'll post an update each day I'm in Seattle. Pray they'll find my luggage.

What's wrong with this picture?!

2009-08-14T19:00:00.003-04:00

I saw this sign outside Hooters on my way home from work and had to get a picture. No, I didn't go inside.

This reminds me of the time my mom and dad (now deceased) took our son David and his cousin Stephen to Hooters in Atlanta when the boys were just about 10 years old. (Maybe they wanted to cash in on free food, too!) I know my parents didn't know anything about Hooters. They just thought it was a burgers & wings kind of place. I wish I could have seen the look on their faces when the waitress came up to take their order.

Later, we found some Hooters "trading cards" in a box under David's bed. Each one a picture of a Hooters girl.

Well, you never can start sex education too soon I guess, right?

Julie & Julia

2009-08-10T23:33:00.004-04:00

I suppose some of my male readers are going to jump on my case about how I like chick flicks. If you look through all my posts, you'll find I often go to movies of that sort. I confess: I loved The Notebook. I loved Rachel Getting Married. Heck, I even enjoyed He's Just Not That Into You!

And I really liked Julie & Julia, the new movie about Julia Child (played excellently by Meryl Streep) and the New York City woman named Julie Powell who blogged her way through Child's famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

There are many things to like about this movie. Streep is fun to watch as the woman who introduced French cuisine and cooking to the American public back in the '60s. Amy Adams is perfect as the woman who, in her own words, went "from dead-end secretarial job to a 110-pound dog and a job writing in my pajamas."

It's an inspiring story. It shows what an impact each of us can have on other people simply by following our dreams and using our gifts. Granted, Julia Child was larger than life (literally!) and had opportunities most of us do not. But all she really did was wake up one day and say, "I don't like my life. I want to find out what I was created to do." She went from not knowing the first thing about cooking to being one of the world's most beloved chefs.

Aside from that, what I loved about Julie & Julia was its celebration of food and of people - two things that God has created for his glory and our good (1 Timothy 6:17).

Take food, for example. The message we hear all the time about food is how bad it is for you. We're told to cut back on calories, eat low-fat meals, reduce carbs, eat more fiber, avoid sugar, and so on. And I know, all that's true. But lost in all that advice is the goodness of food! Throughout the Bible, food is presented as a rich and wonderful gift from God. Feasting on delicious food is a wonderful thing. In Psalm 63: 5, the writer is thinking about the goodness of God and he says, "My soul will be satisfied [with God] as with the richest of foods." How can he compare God to the richest of foods if he's never tasted them?

Some of Jesus' most important teachings were delivered in the context of a meal (not the least of which, of course, was during his last supper with the disciples - a Passover meal). He told stories about feasts and banquets. His first miracle took place at a wedding feast. Jesus loved good food, and as we have the means, so should we.

The other thing presented in the film is the importance of celebrating people. I'm going to be preaching on that theme this coming Sunday. Both Julie and Julia turn again and again to their friends for strength and wisdom. They celebrate with their friends over food. They weep with them and rejoice with them (Romans 12:15).

People are God's greatest earthly gifts to us. I want to do a better job of celebrating with my friends in the years remaining to me.

Finally, Julie Powell says in the movie, and on her blog, that her life was changed by Julia Child. May we who know Jesus be just that bold in our boast that our lives have been changed by the One whose passion for us took him to the cross.

Listening

2009-08-07T22:40:00.003-04:00

I want to be a better listener.

Don't you hate it when you're talking to someone, and you can tell their mind is elsewhere? They're looking around at other people, or checking their cell phone, or interrupting and changing the subject, or something like that.

Well, all too often that person is me.

I came across something in my reading the other day that inspired me. Somewhat surprisingly, it's about Sigmund Freud.

"A man once said of Sigmund Freud, 'He struck me so forcibly that I shall never forget him. His eyes were mild and genial. His voice was low and kind. His gestures were few. But the attention he gave me, his appreciation of what I said, even when I said it badly, was extraordinary. You've no idea what it meant to be listened to like that.'"

When I was a kid, I didn't feel listened to. I could always tell that my parents' minds were somewhere else when I was talking to them. They would give me a perfunctory "um-hmm" now and then, but I grew up feeling quite alone much of the time. So I have an extra bit of sensitivity to being heard but not listened to.

I know a man who has a special gift of listening. It's my wife's Uncle Tom. Suzy and I are always struck, when we are around him, with how well he tunes into people. He looks them intently in the eye, asks excellent questions, shows unfeigned interest, and gives them undivided attention. When Tom listens to me, I feel loved and celebrated.

You've no idea what it means to be listened to like that.

I want to be a better listener.

Why I use media in my preaching

2009-08-05T06:03:00.005-04:00

John Piper is a man I admire a great deal. I've read many of his books and am consistently challenged and enriched by his preaching. I often check his ministry's website to get his take on a variety of subjects and Bible texts.

In a recent post on the "Ask Pastor John" section of the Desiring God website, he responded to the question, "What are your thoughts on drama and movie clips in church services?" That caught my attention because I use movie clips in my sermons from time to time. We have also used drama upon occasion, although not so much recently.

After making the point that Scripture doesn't forbid it, Piper said:

"I think the use of video and drama largely is a token of unbelief in the power of preaching. And I think that, to the degree that pastors begin to supplement their preaching with this entertaining spice to help people stay with them and be moved and get helped, it's going to backfire. It's going to backfire. It's going to communicate that preaching is weak, preaching doesn't save, preaching doesn't hold, but entertainment does. And we'll just go further and further. So we don't do video clips during the sermon. We don't do skits."

I agree that there is power in the preaching of the Word, and that the Word doesn't need "help" to accomplish its purposes. Isaiah 55:11 assures us that the Word that goes out from the mouth of God (e.g., by preaching) will bear fruit. It doesn't need any clever additions from me to be the living and active sword of the Spirit. The gospel is inherently powerful.

I also believe preaching is vastly underrated today. I bristle when someone refers to my sermon as a "talk." It's not a talk, it's a message from God's Word. Mark Driscoll, a popular figure among young Christians today who freely uses media in his sermons, writes that "preaching is the first priority of ministry that leads God's mission" (Vintage Church, pg. 88). He goes on to say that "Preaching is not sharing or chatting but rather proclaiming with authority and passion the truth of God's Word about Jesus."

And there is no doubt that lots of preachers neglect the close, tedious study of God's Word. Many preachers over-rely on media to compensate for their lack of passion and understanding. Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, said it well: "We cannot...be excused if our discourses are threadbare and devoid of substance."

So why do I use movie clips, YouTube videos, and other media helps in my preaching? For at least two reasons.

First, in the Bible I see examples aplenty of people using visual and other aids to get God's message across. They didn't just stand up and preach. For example, the prophet Ezekiel acted out the Babylonian seige of Jerusalem (Ezek. 4:1-13). You might say it was a kind of skit. He also did a little drama with his hair to symbolize God's judgment of Jerusalem (Ezek. 5:1-4). Jeremiah put a yoke on his neck to warn the people of his time of their impending subjugation by Babylon (Jer. 27: 1-2). He used a linen belt to illustrate Judah's unfaithfulness (Jer. 13:1-11). And of course, Jesus taught using parables, current events, stories, and figures of speech. Many other examples could be given. People learn in different ways. Apparently God thinks it's OK for his messengers to use a variety of (dare I say it) techniques to communicate his truth.

Second, there is the issue of contextualization. Contextualization means making the church as culturally accessible as possible, without compromise. It means to communicate the unchanging message about Jesus in ways to which a particular culture can relate. The Apostle Paul said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). He didn't change his message; he changed his approach, depending on his audience. He became like a Jew to win the Jews. He became like a Gentile to win the Gentiles. We might say that he changed his style, depending on the group to which he was ministering.

A perfect example of contextualizing the gospel is the JESUS film. A project of Campus Crusade for Christ, the JESUS film has translated the gospel into more than 1,050 languages, with a new language being added nearly every week. Since 1979 the JESUS film has been viewed by several billion people around the world, and has resulted in more than 225 million people responding with a decision to follow Jesus.

I'm not comparing a sermon to the JESUS film; I'm comparing preachers to missionaries. In my opinion, when a preacher uses a movie clip or something like that in a sermon, he is doing nothing different from a prophet using drama, or Jesus telling a story, or a missionary showing the JESUS film. Granted, dramas and parables in the Bible are inspired, infallible, and inerrant. Movie clips in sermons are none of those. But in my view they are illustrations that shed light upon the Scriptures and help people in a particular context understand the Scriptures better.

As with many other things, it's possible to go too far. I could neglect my study and depend on a clever video illustration to do what only thorough exegesis and passionate proclamation can do. But I don't intend to do that. So, unless I'm persuaded otherwise, I'll continue to pull out a movie clip now and then when I think it serves a good pedagogical function.

Back in the office

2009-08-04T17:48:00.004-04:00

Well, sabbatical 2009 has come to an end. At least, the greater portion of it.

I was given a 5-week sabbatical from my senior pastor duties, and four of those weeks are over. Later this month, I'll attend The Story Workshop at the Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle. I came back to the office today, to be greeted by these amazing works of "art" by some of my beloved colleagues on the staff. My office door was entirely covered by a stupid picture I'd taken of myself to show off my new haircut. And if that weren't enough, in my office these same friends had hung smaller versions of that picture from my ceiling!

Thanks for the love, guys!

Here are a few of my favorite sabbatical experiences...

Favorite fun: Two weeks at Crescent Beach, FL, with my amazing family
Favorite book: Probably Deliberate Simplicity, by Dave Browning
Favorite restaurant: Cap's on the Water, St. Augustine
Favorite movie: The Hurt Locker
Favorite news: My younger daughter is pregnant!
Favorite Sunday morning service: Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church in Lecanto
Favorite time with grandkids: Putt-putt with Tyler and Eben
Favorite exercise: running on the beach
Favorite date: celebrating my 33rd wedding anniversary with Suzy
Favorite milk shake: Chick Fil-A peach
Favorite sandwich: New Yorker at McAlister's in Ocala
Favorite new music: Sara Bareilles
Favorite lesson learned: Slow down and focus

The one and the many

2009-08-03T08:54:00.002-04:00

I was reading Romans 16 this morning. It's one of those chapters of the Bible we often just scurry past or ignore, like the appendix of a book or the P.S. of those fundraising letters we get in the mail.

But there are treasures in Romans 16. Like how about verse 20 - "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." That's one of the Bible's most heart-encouraging promises. Or this directive in verse 19 - "Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil." What great practical advice that is!

What hit me most in my reading, though, was God's concern for both the one and the many.

In verses 1-16, Paul sends greetings to 25 different individuals by name, as well as to a handful of other unnamed persons, families, and house churches. Each of them gets some kind of pat on the back from the great apostle - and, we would say, from God...

Phoebe gets recognized for her service to the church.
Priscilla and Aquila get thanked for risking their lives for Paul.
Mary gets a shout-out for working hard, as do Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis.
Apelles gets the label "tested and approved."
Rufus's mother gets special notice as a woman who was a spiritual mom to Paul.
Andronicus and Junia get honored "as outstanding among [or in the opinion of] the apostles."

And on the list goes.

I'll bet many of the people listed in Romans 16 were just ordinary folk like you and me, living their daily lives to the glory of God. Scholars believe some of them were household slaves. Yet their names got recorded for posterity because God cares about individuals. He sees every act of service performed in his name, even the most menial, as eternally significant.

Yet as much as God cares for individuals, he also cares for nations. Verse 26 says that God revealed the gospel "so that all nations might believe and obey him." God's purpose is to bring men and women, boys and girls, from every tribe, language, people, and nation under heaven into his kingdom. God has the macro in view as well as the micro.

God, give me your heart for individuals as well as your passion for the nations.

Evangelical individualists

2009-08-01T10:49:00.004-04:00

Mark Galli, senior managing editor of Christianity Today magazine, wrote an excellent article in the July issue called "Is the Gay Marriage Debate Over?" You can read it here.

Galli first establishes the point that what makes gay marriage wrong, aside from Biblical directives, is that it's based on the wrong premise.

"The thrust of the pro-gay-marriage argument rests on the assumption that the happiness of the individual is paramount, and that the state's responsibility is to protect the rights of individuals to pursue whatever they think will make them happy, as long as no one gets hurt."

Galli answers this argument by saying that marriage "is inescapably connected to children and thus family, and family is inescapably connected to society." In other words, to argue for gay marriage (or any marriage, for that matter) on the basis of individual happiness is to deny the very meaning and purpose of marriage.

But then Galli goes further. He says that if we evangelicals are going to fight gay marriage, we'd better repent of our own radical individualism.

Where does our individualism show up? Galli cites several examples:

Our use of birth control. Galli says that our "easy acceptance of artificial contraception" shows that we believe "sex is first and foremost a fulfilling psychological and physical experience" rather than part of our responsibility to God, neighbor, and community. (By the way, I do not believe the use of birth control is necessarily a sin. However, I do believe God intends that married couples try to have children. It is part of our creation mandate to fill the earth and subdue it to the glory of God.)
Our high divorce rate. Why do Christians divorce? Often it's for the same reasons non-Christians get divorced: "We grew apart." "We no longer met each other's needs." "Irreconcilable differences."
Our "penchant for changing churches" and "our need to test every church and pastor against our personal reading of the Bible." Galli points out that we Protestants have managed to turn two medieval churches (Orthodox and Catholic) into 30,000 denominations! Why? Because "we are, of all Christian traditions, the most individualistic."
Our avoidance of accountability and church discipline
Our evaluation of a worship service on the basis of "the personal experience of the worshiper" rather than what God thinks of it

Galli then adds these convicting words:

"We [evangelicals] cannot very well argue for the sanctity of marriage as a crucial social institution while we blithely go about divorcing and approving of remarriage at a rate that destabilizes marriage. We cannot say that an institution, like the state, has a perfect right to insist on certain values and behavior from its citizens while we refuse to submit to denominational or local church authority. We cannot tell gay couples that marriage is about something much larger than self-fulfillment when we, like the rest of heterosexual culture, delay marriage until we can experience life, and delay having children until we can enjoy each other for a few years.

"In short, we have been perfect hypocrites on [the gay marriage] issue. Until we admit that, and take steps to amend our ways, our cries of alarm about gay marriage will echo off into oblivion."

Very challenging but needed words.

Forgotten disciplines

2009-07-31T16:26:00.007-04:00

Beginning August 9, I'll be preaching a series of sermons on what I'm calling the "forgotten disciplines." My title for the series is "The Impractical Life." Let me explain why I came up with that title.

Everything these days is about practicality. You want to find the nearest seafood restaurant? Well, as the popular commercial for the iPhone says, "there's an app for that." Don't know where you're going? Your GPS will get you there. Need a family budget? Quicken will draw one up for you. Don't have time for a lengthy Bible reading? Just put a Verse-for-the-Day on your Google home page, and off you go. Don't want to talk on the phone? Send a text, and abbreviate all the words.

I like all the technology available to us today, and I use much of it. But I'm wondering how much silent damage it's doing to our souls?

It seems to me the walk with Christ is by definition impractical. While there are plenty of tools out there to help me grow spiritually, there is no "app" that just - poof! - makes it happen. To be someone's real friend means I should expect pretty frequent interruptions in my schedule. To hear God's voice means I will need to put aside other things, get quiet, sit still, and carefully read and study the Bible. To commune with God means I might need to clear my calendar for an entire day. I might even have to stay up all night, like Jesus did. To sharpen my understanding of Biblical doctrine means I will need to wrestle through a difficult book or listen to lectures that I wouldn't otherwise.

In other words, knowing and becoming like Jesus requires effort and costs us something. If we're serious about spiritual growth, we have to make some changes.

So that's why this series of messages is entitled "The Impractical Life." We'll be looking at five spiritual disciplines that will interrupt our schedules, slow down our pace, affect our diets, and cost us time, money, and energy.

Specifically, the disciplines I want to talk about are:

Listening - to God, to others, and to our own hearts
Feasting - celebrating and enjoying our friends and neighbors
Fasting - refraining from things that we look to to find life
Remembering - telling stories that show how God has been at work
Resting - experiencing shalom through the rhythm of Sabbath

I'd love to hear stories about how one of these forgotten disciplines has affected your life.

Important reading for men

2009-07-30T13:06:00.005-04:00

Mark Driscoll has written a booklet for men entitled Porn Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation. You can download and read it for free here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

As the title says, it's very frank. But that's what we need, right? Men need a clear, honest word on what Biblical sexuality looks like. You may not agree with everything this pastor says, but the gist of it is right on. I appreciate his willingness to step out and speak forth on a sensitive but important topic.

The Hurt Locker

2009-07-26T20:51:00.003-04:00

It probably comes as no surprise to my friends that on my sabbatical I've seen a few movies. Last night I went to see The Hurt Locker. It's a tense, realistic film about a U.S. Army EOD unit in Iraq - that stands for Explosive Ordnance Disposal. For two hours you're on the ground following these three amazing soldiers around the streets of Baghdad as they find and defuse bombs.

I love war movies, and this is one of my favorites. I was in knots the whole time, it was that exciting. And unlike many war movies, this one is not about the politics of war. It's war as seen from the ground, from the soldier's perspective.

It's inspiring as well. This is the story of men specially trained in sniffing out and disarming bombs that are buried in Iraqi soil, hidden in car trunks, strapped onto human beings, and - get this - even stuffed inside corpses. The bravery of these guys is just unbelievable to me. They have to put on special body armor and walk right up to suspicious items on the ground, identify them, and - if they are bombs - deactivate them.

Some interesting things about this movie... First off, it's directed by a woman, Kathryn Bigelow. It's not often (ever?) that a war movie is directed by a woman. Mick LaSalle of the Houston Chronicle writes,

"[Bigelow] makes guy movies — and she makes them better than guys do. For most of her career, her superior talent has had to reveal itself through lesser material, but in the The Hurt Locker...Bigelow finds the perfect vehicle to show what she can do that others can't touch."

Second, the movie is based on recently-declassified government information about these bomb disposal squads. It was shot in Jordan, next door to Iraq. The screenwriter, Mark Boal, was embedded in Iraq for some time with a bomb disposal unit. The details, acting, camera work, and battle scenes make you feel like you're right there. You feel the indecision, the fatigue, the suspense, and the ever-present question: "Is this thing going to blow me to smithereens?"

Some well-known actors show up for brief scenes: Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, and Evangeline Lilly, for example. Also, the three main characters are played very well.

I couldn't help it. I saw Jesus in this movie. Jesus laid it all on the line for us. Like Sgt. Will James walking up to those IEDs, Jesus Christ carried his cross to Calvary and embraced the explosive wrath of God in our place. He said to sinners, "Stay away. I'll suffer for you. I don't want your help. Stay back. It's my mission. I will bear in my own body the weight of your sin. I will not only risk my life for you, I will give it for you. I will die that you might live."

And now this Jesus, who defused the wrath of the Father on our behalf, calls us to walk into enemy territory and set others free. We for whom Jesus suffered and died now must pick up our own cross, embrace a fallen world, and risk our lives for the gospel.

I ask myself...

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

So what have I learned so far on my sabbatical?

2009-07-25T16:59:00.005-04:00

That's probably a question some of my church members would like to ask me, now that I've been on sabbatical for three weeks.

My answer: a lot.

But probably the best thing is not so much what I've learned as what I've experienced. I've been able to spend extended time with my wife, kids, and grandkids. I've stayed at the beach for two weeks. I've done a TON of reading. I've gotten back to blogging. I've picked up my guitar again. I even found out my younger daughter is expecting a baby! It can't get any better than that.

One of my goals was to get a sharper focus on the future...that of both my own life and my church. It's still a work in progress (probably always will be), but I feel pretty good about where I'm at now compared to three weeks ago.

A book that has been a tremendous help in this regard is The Leadership Challenge, by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner. This is far and away the best book on leadership I've ever read. It's not light reading. It's not one of those "Who Moved My Cheese"-type books on leadership that you can finish in a couple hours. I've been working through Kouzes and Posner for some months, and I'm still only halfway. But if you want to grow as a leader, it's worth the time it takes.

The value of the book is the "Reflection and Action" sections at the end of each chapter. I've tried to do these exercises and they've really helped me.

The authors put forth five practices of exemplary leadership:

Model the way
Inspire a shared vision
Challenge the process
Enable others to act
Encourage the heart

For each practice, the authors describe two specific behaviors that help you learn to lead. It's too much to go into here, but my most valuable takeaway from the book so far are these two sentences:

"Before you can become a credible leader...you have to find your voice. If you can't find your voice, you'll end up with a vocabulary that belongs to someone else."

You know, that bit of advice doesn't just apply to leaders. It applies to everyone who hopes to make a difference, whether in a church, a family, a place of work, a neighborhood, or wherever. You have to find your unique voice, and then speak out of it.

So on my sabbatical I've spent considerable time listening to God, exploring my desires, looking at my past, surveying the future, and hearing what my own heart is telling me...with the goal of more clearly finding my voice.

There are an incredible number of voices shouting at church leaders today. My goal is to listen to the voice of my Senior Pastor (Jesus), and thus be better able to find and share my voice with others.

One thing I've heard Jesus telling me very clearly is that I need to spend my time differently. I've been spreading myself way too thin, trying to accomplish too many different things and have my fingers in too many different pots, and not spending adequate time doing the things that only I can do and that God has called me to do.

Another thing I've heard is God's call to UPC to be more missional - that is, to be more intentional and determined to be a church that makes a difference in the world. The thought occurred to me that the widening of Rouse Road (the street our church is located on) is kind of a metaphor for our need to widen our reach (how's that for alliteration??). I'll be sharing more thoughts along that line in the weeks and months ahead, but here's a foretaste that I recorded in my journal the other day:

What must be the focus of UPC? Winning, equipping, empowering, and sending mature followers of Christ (i.e., disciples) into east Orlando and around the world who are deeply grounded in the gospel and armed with a rich theology, love for God and neighbor, and the know-how to help friends become followers – the goal being nothing short of the transformation of the entire culture to the glory of God. Simply put, our purpose is to obey the Great Commission. We are here to grow the Kingdom of God.

Anyway, that's where I am. I have another week to go in this part of my sabbatical. Long story short, it's been a very restoring, refreshing time.

Anniversary

2009-07-24T08:19:00.005-04:00

Today is my 33rd wedding anniversary. Suzy and I were married in downtown Orlando, Florida, on a blazing hot July afternoon in 1976. We said our vows in the Reformation Chapel of First Presbyterian Church. Charlie Horne, who had been Suzy's youth pastor, officiated. My dad was my best man.

It was a long ceremony. At the time, Suzy and I belonged to a house church that was, to say the least, a bit on the intense side with some of our practices. So we had chosen all these Scripture verses for the pastor to read during the ceremony. We wanted to be sure there was lots of Bible in our wedding!

A friend of ours sang a special song, "One Hand, One Heart" from West Side Story. The congregation also sang a hymn. Oddly enough, we had chosen the hymn "Be Still My Soul." We picked that hymn because of the lines

Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.

...which is a fine hymn, except that it's very somber and has more to say about death than about marriage! I remember standing up there thinking that hymn would never end. Could the organist have played it any more slowly?!

My biggest memory from that special day, however, was seeing Suzy walk down the aisle toward me. Before that, I was shaking like a leaf I was so nervous. But when the doors opened and Suzy's dad began walking her down the aisle, all nervousness disappeared. I was overcome that God had brought this woman into my life.

After the reception, which was at the church, we changed and ran out through the crowd to the VW camper which I was driving back then. At the time, people still threw rice at weddings. I remember I never got rid of all the rice inside that car. It was even in the cuffs of my pants legs for months. We drove to Cocoa Beach for the first leg of our honeymoon. The rest of our honeymoon we spent at Ormond Beach and my parents' house at Lake Murray in South Carolina.

Thirty-three years later, I'm a very blessed man. I love you, Suzy.

Make of our hands one hand,
Make of our hearts one heart,
Make of our vows one last vow:
Only death will part us now.

That's news?

2009-07-23T23:55:00.005-04:00

It really bugs me how news gets juxtaposed with pop culture drivel on some of the major news outlets.

You've seen what I'm talking about, right?

Male TV news anchor: "...and we'll continue to update you with the latest from Santa Barbara, where a wildfire has consumed 8600 acres and destroyed nearly 100 homes. Many lives are in danger. But right now, over to you, Megyn, for the latest on swimsuits we can expect to see hitting the beaches this summer..."

Female counterpart: "Thanks, Bill! That's right, take a look at these pictures. Wow, these bikinis are sure to light some fires on the beach...!"

One of the worst offenders I've seen is FoxNews.com. Now I'm a fan of Fox News. But their website absolutely drives me crazy. The top part of their homepage is headlines and breaking news. But then if you scroll down a little further, what you have is a display of "news" from Hollywood and other items meant to titillate and scandalize.

For instance, on today's homepage of FoxNews.com, here's what you can find out about:

"Hef's Twins Sweet Treats" (this is talking about the latest Playboy centerfold)
"Sexy Beach Body Contest" (you can vote on the "Summer's Sexiest Bod")
"Eyebrow Shaving Freaks" (supermodels without eyebrows!! Wow!!)
"Kiss Your Way to Better Sex"(the teaser asks, "Are your kissing skills up to par?")

What, do the folks at Fox News think we're all so infantile that we need that kind of stuff to come back to their website? (They may be right, unfortunately, but that doesn't excuse them from responsibility to stick to their mission.)

A couple months ago I wrote an email to Fox News about their website. Here's what I wrote:

Guys at FOXNews.com,

I wish you would try to put less sordid and sexual stuff on the "Features and Faces" section of your website. I love Fox News, it's the only cable news channel I watch, and I check your website throughout the day. So I'm a fan. But c'mon. Here's what you have on the website as "Features and Faces" right now...
Kim's One Hot Sweater
Elle Liberachi's Sexy Tune (with accompanying fleshy picture)
Fergie Admits Lesbian Past
Hottest Bisexual Stars

And this is typical fare. Lately, it seems like this section of the website is where you're competing with Cosmopolitan magazine for attention. As a father and a person who doesn't think American citizens need any more titillation than what's out there already, I'd appreciate a more "newsy" website with less emphasis on the scandalous and sexual. That's not news.

I didn't get a reply.

Another arrow in the quiver

2009-07-23T23:34:00.006-04:00

My wife and I received news today from our #3 child Jennifer that she and her husband Tim are expecting! This is their first baby, and our fifth grandchild.

I'm so proud!

I was thinking about the high view of children presented in the Bible. Psalm 127 says,

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court (Psalm 127:3-5, TNIV).

I feel so blessed by God to have a growing quiver of children and grandchildren. We have four kids of our own, three of whom are married, and now all three married couples have been blessed with children.

Lord, watch over this little life and let your eye be upon him or her throughout the coming months and years. As Hannah prayed in 1 Samuel 1:28, may this child's whole life be given over to you for your honor and glory!

How to change the world

2009-07-21T17:27:00.006-04:00

I read something yesterday that gave me a whole new perspective on the mandate Jesus gave us to make disciples of all nations.

In an earlier post I reviewed Mark Driscoll's book, Vintage Church. In his last chapter, entitled "How Could the Church Help Transform the World?", Driscoll tells the story of a trip he once took to a remote third-world village. In this village was a river polluted with garbage and human waste. The stench of it made him sick, but what he saw was even worse: children swimming in the river, women washing clothes in the river, people even drinking from the river.

Driscoll uses the image of that river to drive home a radical but obvious point. To change the situation of those poor villagers would require much more than trying to clean up just that section of the river. In fact, attempting to do so would be a waste of time, since new garbage would just flow right in to replace the old. "Instead," writes Driscoll, "the only hope was a complete transformation upstream wherever the filth originally entered the river."

Note the word "upstream." Change must take place at the top, where the dirty water originates.

Driscoll refers to an address by James Davison Hunter, Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia, given in 2002 to the Board of Trustees of The Trinity Forum. You can download the address here. In his address Hunter said that Christians have "extraordinary, even unprecedented, opportunities to strategically engage the world we live in for good." But we must adopt a new way of thinking.

Most of us, according to Hunter, believe cultural transformation occurs by multiplying the number of people who believe in God and live by godly values. The way I've heard this put many times by Christians is, "changing the world one life at a time." The problem with this theory is that it's not borne out by the facts. The vast majority of Americans adhere to some kind of religious faith, yet secularism has won the day. The church seems to be declining in influence, if anything. By contrast, think of the sweeping and permanent cultural changes that have been introduced by small groups of highly influential people. The Jewish community in America is one such example. The homosexual community is another. Gay people make up at most 3% of the US population, but in a short time they have transformed the way homosexuals are portrayed, perceived, and treated. Hunter says that out of the billions of human beings who have lived since 600 B.C., as few as 150 to 3,000 people are responsible for the thoughts and ideas that now define our culture.

Hunter and Driscoll say that if we want to change the world, we must go upstream. We must capture the hearts and minds of that relatively small group of people who hold the "cultural capital."

Driscoll writes,

"Culture changes from the top down and rarely from the bottom up. ...most cultural creation and transformation begin upstream and flow downstream. This is because the cultural gatekeepers who decide what does and does not go into the river of culture are upstream. They run the law schools, fashion industry, banking industry, political parties, media outlets, and the like. They decide which bands are signed to record contracts and placed on the radio, which films are funded and distributed by the movie studios, which clothes are sold at the store, and which books are published. This is because those who hold the cultural capital are also networked with those who hold the funding capital, media capital, and political capital, and together they are the cultural gatekeepers who decide what goes into the river of culture, how it is introduced, and when."

If this is true, the goal of cultural transformation will not be reached by changing one heart at a time - although we should continually share the gospel with individuals and labor for their conversion. Driscoll and Hunter would say that we must do more. We must take the gospel upstream, where the world changers live and move. If we could reach out more effectively to Hollywood executives, musicians, college presidents and professors, newspaper editors, politicians, judges, news commentators, and the like - if the gospel could penetrate these strata of society more powerfully - if we could equip and send people into these circles of influence - if we could plant more churches in large cities where the cultural capital is found - we would see dramatic world change.

Hunter calls leaders of change the "elites, gatekeepers who provide creative direction and management to the leading institutions" of society. They and their networks of fellow leaders have the credibility and authority to be taken seriously. They have the brains, connections, power, and money required to "shape and direct the lives of individuals." Like the headwaters of a stream, they create the ideas and values that eventually get swallowed by the masses. I like the way Hunter puts it: they are the ones who have the ability "to name things." They are the world changers. If they can come to love the gospel, think of the dramatic effect that would have on the rest of the world.

Hunter ended his 2002 address by pointing to Jesus and his followers:

"...even Jesus created a network of disciples (who, over time, became spiritual and cultural leaders). Though they originated on the periphery of the social world of that age, they moved to the provincial center of Jerusalem, and then, within a generation, to the center of the ancient world - Rome. They too created new institutions that not only articulated but embodied an alternative to the reigning ways of life of that time."

Driscoll's main point in his book is that we need to plant churches in urban centers. I see that, but my thoughts were drawn to the amazing opportunity we at UPC already have. Around the corner from our church is the University of Central Florida. Fast becoming one of the largest universities in America, UCF is equipping men and women for influence at the center of culture. Graduates of UCF walk into leadership in fields of science, industry, the arts, education, law, medicine, politics, etc. What more could we be doing to reach them during the short time they are here in east Orlando? How can we build multiple bridges of relationship with the faculty and administration? What can we do to give more support to Ande Johnson and Reformed University Fellowship? How can UPC become more true to its name: "University Presbyterian Church"?

Incidentally, not to be ignored is the fact that a highly respected liberal arts college - Rollins College in Winter Park - is just 10 miles from our church in the other direction. We already have a Rollins professor worshiping with us. Additionally, Full Sail University is just 6 miles from UPC and is one of the premier media arts schools in the world. Several students and teachers from Full Sail have made UPC their church home over the years.

As Mark Driscoll says, "...we were created to make culture and spread across the earth to create culture." God has been very gracious to our church. He has given us 26 acres of land in close proximity to several major universities. We don't have far to go upstream.

Seeing clearly

2009-07-20T15:10:00.006-04:00

This morning I went to an optometrist. Last time I went was three years ago. I need new glasses because mine are pretty scratched up and I want some different frames. So to get new glasses, I had to have my prescription updated by an optometrist.

When I took off my glasses and tried to read those little letters at the bottom of the eye chart, I realized why I need glasses. I'm 55! My "far" vision is pretty good, but my "near" vision is terrible. Things are really blurry up close. It was embarrassing.

It was a good reminder to me about why I'm taking a sabbatical to get away from the "day-to-day" of church ministry. Things get really blurry when they're up close. To see clearly, I need new eyes. I need to step back, look at the big picture, and listen to God. Then he can give me his vision.

This goes along with a good book I started today: Leading on Empty, by Wayne Cordeiro. The subtitle is "Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion." Cordeiro is the pastor of a huge church in Hawaii. The book recounts his experience with burnout and recovery. It's also a clarion call to build your inner life and honor reasonable boundaries, to make sure you finish well.

Cordeiro says the same thing I have read over and over again during my sabbatical: "Do the things only you can do."

Cordeiro says that 85% of what we do, anyone can do. With a little training, most people could do another 10% of what we do. But unfortunately, because we are insecure, or refuse to delegate, or are just undisciplined, many of us give our time and attention to that 95%, and neglect the 5% that only we can do. It's that "crucial 5%" that God will one day hold us accountable for.

I spent some time recalling what God has particularly called me to as senior pastor of UPC. I came up with these priorities:

Set an example of a sinner growing in grace in my personal, family, and community life;
Study, pray, and preach the gospel on a weekly basis;
Provide overall vision and direction for the church;
Equip and guide the elders and staff; and
Raise up other leaders.

If I can do that 5% to any degree of success, praise God! That's enough!

Obviously, we all have to do things that lie outside our job description from time to time. But I think Wayne Cordeiro is right. We all need a new way of seeing. We can't - we shouldn't - do it all. If we try to do it all, we'll wind up leading on empty.

Two Lovers

2009-07-17T10:37:00.004-04:00

My wife and I rented the movie Two Lovers on our vacation even though we'd never heard of it before. Normally when we do that, we pick losers. Not this time; I give this one a thumbs up. We like the two main stars, Joaquin Phoenix (despite his ridiculous showing on Letterman a while back) and Gwyneth Paltrow, and they are excellent here. Keep in mind it's rated R for language and "some sexuality," although my wife and I thought it was way milder than most R-rated films.

It's the story of a Jewish guy named Leonard (Phoenix) who suffers from a psychological disorder of some kind (bipolar? borderline?) as well as heartache from a past rejection. His passion is now divided between a woman who really loves him but who is pushed into his life by his parents, and a woman (Paltrow) whom he really loves but who is psychologically unstable and terribly needy herself.

Two Lovers is a study in how fathers abuse their children (and what that does to them), how manipulative men use needy women, and to what extent we will go to find someone who really values and celebrates us. Leonard loses piece after piece of his heart until he wonders if he has anything left. The love he gains, while not everything he'd hoped for, is enough to give him a foothold in a fallen world. There are spiritual and social lessons aplenty in this dark but ultimately affirming movie.

A good book on leading change...

2009-07-17T10:19:00.002-04:00

Who Killed Change? by Ken Blanchard and John Britt.

If you're wondering how to introduce change in your team, company, church, or other organization and don't want to wade through a long, boring book, try this one. It's written in the style of a whodunit, and it took me just a couple hours to read.

It's pretty funny too. You'll follow Agent Mike McNally as he tries to solve the murder of a guy named Change at a company called ACME. The suspects include Carolina Culture, Aidan Accountability, Peter Performance Management, Perry Plan, and my personal favorite - Bailey Budget.

It's entertaining, but there's a lot of wisdom here. At the end of the book is a concise summary of what a leader needs to do to lead change. A couple of my biggest takeaways:

Create dialogue, not one-way communication, with those being asked to change. Find out their concerns, hear their questions, consider their ideas.
Include lots of people in the planning process. Include those who might be resistant to change.
Spend money on infrastructure before implementing change.
Help people see what is wrong with the status quo. "Frame the change in terms of a cause that is motivating."
Know the culture in which you're trying to introduce change. Identify things in the culture of the church or organization that could inhibit change.

I won't tell you who killed Change.

Eben is 5!

2009-07-16T21:12:00.002-04:00

Today my grandson Eben turned five years old. Since that's a pretty important landmark in a little kid's life, I thought I should share the amazing story of his birth with those of you who are new to my blog.

Here it is.

Happy birthday, Ebenezer!

Death

2009-07-15T18:28:00.010-04:00

I'm on sabbatical the whole month of July and part of August. But so far, it's been weird. It has certainly not been a relaxing time emotionally. Three people with whom I'm connected in some way have died during the past two weeks. I participated in two of the three funerals. One person was a member of my church about whom I posted a few days ago. Another was my father-in-law. Both these deaths were expected at some point, but that doesn't erase the deep sense of loss. Then, tragically and unexpectedly, the wife of a friend of mine took her own life last weekend.

I'm not just sad, I'm angry.

These events remind me why the Bible calls death our enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). Jesus was enraged and "deeply moved" by the death of his good friend Lazarus. Death resulted from the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their subsequent fall into sin (Genesis 2:17).

The good news is that when you put your trust in Jesus, you need no longer fear death. You have eternal life, both now and even more fully in the future. What is more, upon the return of Christ, death will be abolished, thrown into the lake of fire along with the author of death (Revelation 20:14). On the new earth there will be "no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Perhaps better than anyone else, C. S. Lewis captured what it means to believe that death is but the doorway to eternal life for the Christian. At the end of The Last Battle (the final book in the Narnia series), Aslan tells the children,

"Your father and mother and all of you are - as you used to call it in the Shadowlands - dead. The term is over; the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: This is the morning...." [And Lewis continues,] The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And as for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.

What I'm reading on my sabbatical...

2009-07-15T17:05:00.005-04:00

Deliberate Simplicity, by Dave Browning. The subtitle is what captured my interest: "How the Church Does More by Doing Less." It's an engaging, well-written book as well as a fast read that challenges the old "bigger is always better" paradigm.

The author planted Christ the King (CTK) Community Church in Skagit Valley, WA, in 1999. Since that time it's grown exponentially to become a multi-site, multi-national church. The book is basically a description of the methods used by CTK, although principles outlined in the book can certainly help more traditional churches like ours.

As I read the book, my heart kept saying "Yes! Yes! That's right!" Browning's thesis is that people are too busy, churches are too busy, and church leaders are too busy. We have adopted a Western, perfectionistic, consumerist mindset and veered away from the simple, bottom-up approach of the early church. There are tons of books out there saying that. But what's different about Deliberate Simplicity is its glut of illustrations and quotations from the business world, common sense, CTK, and other churches that support the premise in a convincing manner.

Browning's church focuses on three things: worship, small groups, and outreach. That's it. Other ministries, when they happen, are started and maintained by individuals and/or small groups in the church, not by church leaders. When a program is no longer the passion of those who started it, it's laid to rest.

Browning is critical of adding programs and building buildings that take the focus off the "main thing." He says a church has to decide what it's NOT going to do, and then dig in its heels when pressure comes to get bigger and more complicated.

Here are some of my underlinings:

"Small is the new big."
"We try to prune the activity branches at CTK, so God has our time and attention."
"Is church a place you go to, or a place you go from? When you are a part of an outreach church, church is a place you go from."
"What is the business of the church? In short, it is to make more disciples of Jesus Christ."
"Sometimes an emphasis on excellence is just a product of unhealthy perfectionism."
"The evangelistic effectiveness of mini-churches is statistically 1,600 percent greater than that of megachurches."
"In a Deliberately Simple church, we think big but act small. We keep asking, 'What is the simplest thing that could possibly work?'" (That's a great question for a leadership team to ask from time to time.)

I do have some questions for Browning. Like where does educating children fit in? Isn't that the responsibility of the church too? And he says his church is "doctrinally minimalist." Isn't part of discipleship giving people the whole counsel of God, taking them deeper theologically rather than keeping them at a superficial level? (As it says in Hebrews 6:1, "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity...."). I have not found small groups to be adequate for educating believers.

Aside from that, what I get from this book is that a church needs to be strategic with its time, energy, and resources. We are not called to do everything; we are called to be faithful. I want to share this book with my fellow church leaders. It gives me hope that pressure and fatigue do not have to be the norm for those in leadership, and that we can actually do more by doing less.

What I'm reading on my sabbatical...

2009-07-09T18:00:00.006-04:00

To Be Told, by Dan Allender. This is a book about the importance of knowing and telling your story. I'm reading it because I know there are things about my past that I've yet to understand and share with others. Until I do, I won't fully enter into the story that God has written about me and has yet to write in me, for his glory. I want to be more whole, more at "shalom" with my past and thus more missional in the present.

Allender says that knowing and telling the stories of our lives is essential. I agree. Mission flows out of loving and interpreting our past. We have to identify the themes that have operated in our lives and grow to appreciate them - even those associated with pain and loss.

But spending time on our story takes, um...time! It's slow work. Allender encourages us to take the time necessary to reflect, remember, write down, and share our stories and themes, tragedies and triumphs, with others in the body of Christ. He says that this is a dying art. He says it's as we hear and edit one another's story that we begin to live out of the dreams and passions God has given each of us and so fulfill our unique calling.

All of this would be food for narcissists were it not for Allender's relentless focus on living for the benefit of others. We are to "steward" our story not for our good alone but for the good of the community and world.

One takeaway I found particularly appealing is Allender's call to celebrate more often. He says on pg. 146,

"Stories are food for friends to feast on together. We are called to write and then rewrite, and we also are called to tell our stories to people who love us, people who will celebrate our life. We need people who will ponder our stories and help us write with more integrity and depth. But we need more than mere feedback; we need celebration."

I have told my wife before that my childhood lacked celebration. I did not feel joyfully affirmed by my parents or celebrated for my individuality. As a matter of fact, I grew up feeling an overwhelming and deadening need to comply, to stuff my opinions and emotions, to conform to the wishes of my parents. What celebration there was, was stiff and formal. Here I am at age 55 feeling a great need to feast and celebrate and be glad with friends. Perhaps this book can be the inspiration for more storytelling and celebration at UPC and other places.

Dan Allender is the president of Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle. I'll be going there in late August as part of my sabbatical to Allender's Story Workshop, which is based on To Be Told. I'm eager to write my story and live out of it more confidently in the years ahead.

This would be a good book for small groups to read and discuss together. There's an accompanying workbook that would enrich your reading of To Be Told.

The Taking of Pelham 123

2009-07-09T15:30:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago I went to the new movie, The Taking of Pelham 123, starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. It's a remake of the 1974 movie of the same name which starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.

If you like action movies, this one has aplenty. If you don't care about character development or realistic storytelling, you'll probably like it. I do, and I didn't.

But the real reason I'm posting about The Taking of Pelham 123 is to point out something that has increased dramatically since 1974 - intolerably foul language in movies. I couldn't believe the number of F-bombs I had to listen to on the way to finding out how the good guys were going to get the bad guys. It was ridiculous. Later, I checked screenit.com, and found there are at least 102 "f" words plus other expletives in this movie.

Is that really necessary? Hollywood people, why do you do this to us? Why can't you build a movie around an interesting story, good acting, compelling dialogue, and things like that? Must you litter the movie with language that leaves us feeling like we need a bath afterwards? Movies about sinful people and tragic events are one thing; movies that depend on profanity to entertain the audience are quite another.

No need to see this movie. You'll know how it turns out after the first 15 minutes anyway.

What I'm reading on my sabbatical...

2009-07-07T13:24:00.005-04:00

Vintage Church, by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears (Crossway Books, 2008). I've become interested in Mark's ministry as pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle since hearing him speak at the recent Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago. He's bold, blunt, evangelistic, and solidly rooted in the historic Reformed Christian faith. He combines loyalty to the Word of God and the creeds of Christendom with a strong passion to see the church win the lost and redeem culture for God's glory.

I chose this book as one of my reading projects for my sabbatical. I wanted to see how Driscoll's perspective might speak into my conservative, PCA, baby-boomer ways. I'm about halfway through the book.

Of course I differ with him on baptism. Mark is a credobaptist. I'm a paedobaptist. I believe that baptism should be administered to believers and their children, as a sign and seal of the covenant of grace and membership in the community of faith. Driscoll, like most contemporary Christians, holds that baptism is for believers only. One of his arguments is that in every instance when the New Testament records a household baptism, it says "that each member of these households believed in Jesus and was saved" (pg. 116). That is not true. In Acts 16, for instance, Paul and Silas go to the house of the Philippian jailer, where they share God's Word with him and his family. Then verse 34 (in the English Standard Version that Driscoll prefers!) says, "Then he [the jailer] brought them [Paul and Silas] up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." The text does not say that anyone else in his family believed; it only says that HE (the Philippian jailer) believed. It's a singular verb, as the ESV rightly notes. Nevertheless the entire household was baptized. So Driscoll argues too much when he says without qualification that "each member of the households that were baptized also believed in Jesus, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and served God" (pg. 117).

Apart from that, I'm learning a lot from this book. Driscoll makes a solid argument for male eldership in Chapter 3, and says some great things about the importance of preaching in Chapter 4. The book is a good critique of much that passes for church these days. I particularly liked this paragraph on page 52:

"Building on the modern devotion to the individual, modern Christianity in practice defined the entire purpose of the church in terms of the individual over and above the glory of God and benefit of the community of people. As a result, the modern church in its various forms defined the church as a place where individual spiritual needs are met. What developed was a view of individual Christians as consumers with felt needs and the church as the dispenser of religious goods and services."

In our day, when there is such a low view of the local church, Vintage Church deserves a reading.

Sunrise

2009-07-07T06:44:00.004-04:00

As I write this I am sitting on the porch of our beach condo. It's 6:32 a.m. and the sun rose over the Atlantic a few minutes ago. I am listening to the symphony of waves unrolling upon the shore with the unceasing chatter of insects as background music, and watching a lone fisherman throwing out his line. Long clouds surround the sun and magnify its golden glory.

Gazing at the beauty before me, I consider that my friend Chris entered into the joy of the Lord early yesterday morning. Right now, as I sit here on earth, Chris is in a place Jesus called Paradise. Whatever beauty I think I see, Chris is seeing so much more: the sunlit face of his Savior, the blazing radiance of angels, the spirits of righteous people made perfect (Hebrews 12:23), the very glory of God.

"Glory of God." It's a phrase we throw around all the time, we church people. I'm thinking that Chris now knows what those words mean. He's actually looking at it, feeling it, exulting in it! We really have no inkling what the glory of God is all about. But soon, very soon, we will experience it endlessly. Like these waves I see crashing upon the shore at Crescent Beach, God's glory will unroll before our vision with unceasing energy and joy. And we will say with Paul, "Death has been swallowed up in victory!" (1 Corinthians 15:54)

Away We Go

2009-07-06T22:17:00.005-04:00

Away We Go is a new movie starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. I saw it today with my wife and several other family members. It's rated R for some strong language and sexual dialogue. With that caveat, I recommend it as a movie with a positive message about love and family. Which is ironic, considering Krasinski and Rudolph play an unmarried couple living together and expecting their first child. More on that later.

Burt and Verona are deeply in love and expecting a baby in three months. They embark on a road trip to find a place to settle down and call home prior to the arrival of their baby. Along the way they visit old friends and close and distant relatives, seeking to discover if they could tolerate life in the same city with them. These visits turn into several hilarious encounters and awkward conversations that keep the movie very entertaining. I laughed a lot at some of the weird people that dot the landscape of Burt and Verona's past.

That's pretty much the plot of the movie until the end, which I won't give away. Suffice to say that a home is found, and Burt and Verona share some touching and inspiring moments that reinforce the bond between them and their unborn child.

As I said, Burt and Verona are not married. Nevertheless, the overall message of the film is that marriage is a good thing, that it's made of commitment, and that children are a blessing. Those are messages that rarely come out of Hollywood. It was refreshing to see some of the characters in the movie genuinely enjoying their spouses, adopting children, grieving miscarriage, and staying together in spite of hardship. Near the end of the movie, Burt and Verona visit Burt's brother, whose wife had recently left him. The devastating effects of divorce upon a child are presented with unmistakable clarity.

One interesting side note is that the final scenes were filmed in nearby Leesburg, Florida.

I thought Krasinski and Rudolph are quite believable in their roles. The supporting cast is terrific. It's a simple, low-budget film that (similar to Juno, for example) uses broken, erring people to reinforce family values.

There is something deep in the human heart that aches not only for God but for human community. Whether in the form of marriage, family, or friendship, we need people to survive. I think this movie scores an A+ illustrating this Biblical truth.

What God is looking for

2009-07-06T07:25:00.004-04:00

I read Psalm 50 for my morning devotions today. It speaks to probably the most important question one could ask: What does God expect from human beings? Psalm 50 answers: dependence upon him.

Psalm 50 presents God as an inescapable Judge. He comes from Mt. Zion in majestic, holy beauty, and summons all humanity to stand before him. He presents the charges against us. It's not that we haven't brought him enough animal sacrifices. It's not that we've forgotten to go to church. We've forgotten HIM. We haven't been thankful. We haven't needed him.

What God says he's looking for is dependence. He says, "Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble,
and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”

The essence of sin is independence from God, and we're guilty. I'm guilty. I think I can make it through the day with bare lip service toward God. I rush through prayers, I offer a quick apology for not being a better Christian, I hardly notice the evidences of God's glory and beauty around me in people and nature. I give him little or no thanks for his million mercies.

God says in Psalm 50:22, "Repent, all you who forget me." I hear him saying, "Stop being so self-reliant. Stop building your Tower of Babel-independence. Call on me." John Piper likes to say, "Keep buzzing the nurse."

I'm struck that thanklessness reveals more about the heart than anything else. When we fail to give thanks, it reveals that we really don't feel a need for God.

God, help me this day to make thankfulness my sacrifice to you, and to honor you through dependence.

Wimbledon and predestination

2009-07-04T09:42:00.004-04:00

My wife and I had a funny experience yesterday. We always watch the Wimbledon tennis matches on and around July 4 each year. So yesterday (July 3) I turned on the TV and there was Roger Federer playing Rafael Nadal. It was the last set of what would become the longest-ever men's Wimbledon final.

Immediately we were transfixed on this match between Federer and Nadal. It was reminiscent of those famous match-ups of Borg, Connors, and McEnroe that we used to watch each year.

But wait a minute, this was the Wimbledon final? My wife and I looked at each other and said, "It's just July 3. Why is the final match already taking place?" (You can tell we don't follow professional tennis very much until Wimbledon.) We surmised that there were no rain delays this year or something, so they were way ahead of schedule.

The play wore on between these two tennis greats, until finally Nadal pulled off one of the greatest victories ever: 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. We were elated!

Then there was a commercial break. When Wimbledon resumed, they were talking about Federer playing in the men's final on Sunday, July 5. What?! That's when it dawned on us clueless people. We had been watching LAST YEAR'S Wimbledon final! It was all on tape. Obviously we had missed the 2008 matches, and didn't know that Nadal beat Federer last summer.

Then I got to thinking theologically...

What if that's how predestination works? God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass. In his mind it's all taken place already. For God, who transcends time, all of history is one cosmic moment which he has planned down to the tiniest detail. Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from his will (Matthew 10:29). No power in heaven or hell can circumvent or spoil his plans.

But from our point of view, history unfolds second by second in all its unpredictable and unknowable glory. We experience day by day what has already been mapped out in the mind of God. We exult or weep as triumphs and tragedies take place. We are taken by surprise by events that never surprise God. We get the pleasure of enjoying life and anticipating what is yet to happen, while God sovereignly ensures that his purposes stand fast.

When my wife and I realized what was going on, we laughed. Holy, happy laughter is the only conceivable response to the realization that God is sovereign and in control.

Public Enemies

2009-07-04T08:49:00.006-04:00

Last night my wife and I went to see the new movie about John Dillinger, Public Enemies. I agree with one review I'd read: "good but not great."

Getting my criticisms out of the way first, much of the dialogue was unintelligible... the oft-used hand-held camera technique seemed out of place here... Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp) moved around a lot and it was hard to know just where the action was taking place. But most disappointing was the lack of character development. Compared to, say, Bonnie and Clyde, this movie gives you little insight into what made Dillinger so evil. When the movie begins Dillinger is well into his life of crime. There's no context. I had to check the internet to discover that Dillinger's mother died when he was just three and he was cared for as a child by his sister. But you see little of that heartache in Depp's Dillinger.

Christian Bale in the role of G-Man Melvin Purvis shows so little emotion that I felt none of the frustration Purvis must have experienced as Dillinger slipped from his grasp time after time. Why do directors not see that actors are just going through the motions, or that dazzling scenery, costumes, and cinematography do not a good movie make?

Having said that, I did enjoy the scenery, costumes, and cinematography a lot! It was a well crafted movie technically. I love seeing details in movies, and there were lots of period details in this movie. One of the shootouts after a bank hold-up was well choreographed, as was the final scene outside the movie theatre. Marion Cotillard was very good as Dillinger's love interest, Billie Frechette.

Unfortunately, some of the "good guys" come off looking pretty bad. I always wonder, is this just another example of Hollywood's bash-American propaganda, or are lawmen really as corrupt and mean as they are often depicted?

One spiritual application I got from this movie is how it illustrates the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12. In one scene, Billie asks Dillinger what he wants in life. He says, "I want it all, right now." The rich man in Jesus' parable had the same attitude. Greed is never satisfied. It leads toward destruction of self and others.

Donald Trump once wrote, "The point is that you can't be too greedy." Dillinger found out that you can.

Prayers matter

2009-07-03T10:50:00.003-04:00

Since letting people know about the death of my wife's father yesterday, we have been literally flooded with phone calls, emails, and Facebook messages saying "We're praying for you." I've said that to other people countless times when they need prayer. Now that we're on the receiving end of those messages, it really makes a difference. To know that people who love us are praying, is the best gift of all right now.

Thank you. Your prayers matter to us, and I know they matter to God.