xjm716's Xanga

October

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:06:59 GMT

"October
And the trees are stripped bare
Of all they wear
What do I care
October
And kingdoms rise
And kingdoms fall
But you go on"

-October, U2

Monday Update

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:54:16 GMT

This past weekend, we had our church's ministry team leaders retreat at NEICSC. Friday night was fun at the campfire, we had a good discussion and the s'mores were delicious! Saturday we did some goal setting and got into a lengthy conversation about students; it was not the forum for it, and it only served to distract.

Saturday night was football night, where OSU squeaked one out against Wisconsin...Terrelle Pryor is the man. Notre Dame and Penn Sate also won Saturday, and it was nice to see Michigan lose again!

Reading:
Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig. From the chapter "The Absurdity of Life without God"- "'Who am I?' man asks. 'Why am I here? Where am I going?' Since the Enlightenment, when he threw off the shackles of religion, man has tried to answer these questions without reference to God. But the answers that came back were not exhilarating, but dark and terrible. 'You are the accidental by-product of nature, a result of matter plus time plus chance. there is no reason for your existence. All you face is death. Modern man thought that when he had gotten rid of God, he had freed himself from all the repressed and stifled him. Instead, he discovered that in killing God, he had also killed himself. For if there is no God, then man's life becomes absurd" (57). "Each persons life is therefore without ultimate significance. An because our lives are ultimately meaningless, the activities we fill our lives with are also meaningless. The long hours spent in study at the university, our jobs, our interests, our friendships-all these are, in the final analysis, utterly meaningless. this is the horror of modern man: because he ends in nothing, he is nothing" (59). "It life ends at the grave, then it makes no difference whether one has lived as a Stalin or as a saint. Since one's destiny is ultimately unrelated to one's behavior, you may as well just live as you please" (60-61). Good stuff!

Watching:
The Secret Life of The American Teenager Why would I watch this? Even though it is a Hollywood version of reality, it gives a sense of what is going on in the lives of the kids that I minister to. In the words of our of our kids, "It's pretty legit. Sit in my classes at school and you'll hear the same conversations taking place."

Cancer watch:
It has been confirmed that my wife Anne has breast cancer. Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, October 14, and it will be an all day affair. Thoughts and prayers appreciated.

Matthew 8, part deux

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:15:35 GMT

Yesterday was a rough day. The fact that Anne has cancer hit me like a ton of bricks. The thoughts and emotions that have been swirling around in me over the past 2 weeks came out in tears. As I said yesterday, words about Jesus healing everyone and their brother from Matthew 8 was definitely NOT what I wanted to read.

Yesterday, I wanted to ask God "Why?" There was a part of me that wanted to be angry with Him. But, I simply cannot be angry with God. The rational side of me, the mind, if you will, is closely aligned with the transformation of my heart. This is not the fault of God. Contrary to what my Calvinist brethren would say, God did not "choose" Anne to have cancer. I do not believe that God "did" this to teach us some sort of lesson.

According to they "Why?" study that we did earlier this year, "truth" is defined as "that which accords with reality". The book that I'm currently reading, Reasonable Faith, also defines "truth" in a very similar way.

Here's the reality:

God created everything and called it "good".
Sin came in to the world and tainted it, it's no longer "good".
Cancer is a by-product of that sin.
We live in a "fallen" world and in a "fallen" state.
Because of this, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, death and destruction, and cancer, even cancer, befalls us. Jesus Himself attests to this in Luke 13 when He talked about the Galileans and the people in Siloam who had a tower fall on them.

Today, I read Matthew 8, and made it most of the way without shedding a tear. Here's what I wrote, in part, in my journal this morning...

"Pain and suffering is not the way or will of god. You desire renewal, reconciliation. You are bringing all things to you. Your very words and Word are a testimony to that...I know that you want to heal Anne. I know that you want to heal our hurts, our family, my sin. You want to get rid of despondency. And bringing things to you does just that....You are in charge. You are in control. And I love you for loving me enough to be in charge."

God is the God of compassion. I know what He wants. He is providing compassion. His will and reality are both different and the same. Different in that we have sinned, and there are consequences to the "fallen-ness" of this word. The same in that God is addressing that fallen-ness in bringing us to Him, even now and through this.

On a different note, I got this photo of MFP from his wife.

God's in charge of that one, too.

Matthew 8

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:40:02 GMT

In light of current events, I'm just a little unsure of why this would be my reading today.
Solace? Irony? You tell me.

The Man With Leprosy

Healed

The Faith of the Centurion

Servant healed

Jesus Heals Many

Peter's mother-in-law
Demon-possessed
"all the sick"

The Cost of Following Jesus

"let the dead bury their own dead"

Jesus Calms the Storm

"You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"

The Healing of a Demon-possessed Man

"Go!"

Yes We Can!

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:18:43 GMT

"These flowers! These flowers!
These are our blooming flowers.
these flowers are blooming for the good kindergarten children.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
The General's love in inside them.
These are our smiling flowers.
These are happy flowers."

"We're gonna spread happiness
We're gonna spread freedom
Obama's gonna change it
Obama's gonna lead 'em

We're gonna change it
And rearrange it
We're gonna change the world...

Now's the moment, lift each voice to sing
Sing with all your heart!
For our children, for our families,
Nations all joined as one."

"And we know that you German boys and girls
are taking on everything that we hope for in Germany.
We want to be one people.
And you, my youth, are to be this people.
We want to see no more class divisions...
we want to see one Reich one day.
And you must train for it."

Brian McLaren, part deux

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:10:06 GMT

When I read this, i laughed.

"Why I'm voting for Obama, and blah, blah, blah, part 3""

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:13:25 GMT

On the $700 BILLION bailout:

The Democrat Party owns Congress. They did not "need" the Republicans in the House...or did they? Maybe the reason that they needed the Republicans is because there were enough Democrats who knew that the bailout was a really, really bad idea. As much as Pelosi and Reid want to blame Republicans, maybe they should go after the 40% of their own caucus who voted "no".

Some questions:
Reid said the the Republican should put country first...I wonder, was he saying that the 40% of Democrats who voted "no" unpatriotic, too?
If Bush's economic policy is so bad, why are Pelosi and Reid jumping on board with him?

I think at the end of the day, most taxpayers simply did not want to pay an extra $7000 in taxes. You can check out the Roll Call here. At least no one voted "present".

Brian McLaren (author, speaker, activist), Part 3.

Unlike previous posts (here and here), I'm not going to post Brian's entire entry. You can read it by visiting his website, here.

With regard to his September 30 post...I find it interesting that Brian, interested in the "Reconciliation Narrative" would agree with someone using the adjective "stupid" to describe the actions of pastors who endorse McCain from their pulpits. I wonder, does McLaren feel the same about Jeremiah Wright's endorsement of Obama?

On to his "Why I'm voting for Obama...Part 3" post.

Here's my favorite part:
"Reminder - I'm speaking here for myself as a private US citizen, and not on behalf of any group." Immediately after this statement, he provides a link to Matthew 25, which is also an organization (I mean "network"-to use the emergent word) that has "proudly endorsed Senator Barak Obama for President". When you visit their site and scroll down, you immediately see Brian's face. While not endorsing Obama from his pulpit, he is clearly doing so here, which appears to stand in opposition to his statement that he is not doing so, "behalf of any group." Stupid?

Because Brian is a "Matthew 25 guy", he goes on to tell us what that means to him. Matthew 25 informs his life, as well it should. I'm glad to read that this is the case. There are not enough believers who truly live this way. HOW we do this however is up for discussion, is it not? Once again, Brian here seems to fall into his own arguments...government simply is the wrong narrative to usher in the Kingdom of God. That's not to say that government cannot accomplish some things, but the accomplishments will always fall short. Just as Brian has rightly criticized the right wing attempts to "right the ship", where is the criticism of the left?

Take a look at these statements:

"Which candidate best understands poverty and economic vulnerability through the closest experience of it? Which one promises to bring the most resources – energy, intelligence, creativity, and commitment – to helping the least of these?

I don’t doubt that Senator McCain would make national defense his top priority as president, and I don’t doubt that he would be most ready to sustain or expand our war-making activities around the world. But I’m ashamed of our nation being known for rushing to war. I would like to be known for helping the poor."

This is "binary-dualism" at it's finest. Us vs. them.

Brian writes this:

"In the end, I truly believe that a nation that helps the poor will have fewer enemies – and therefore more national security – than one that pursues its own national interest through war. As the Apostle Paul said, “Do not look out only for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Your attitude should be that of Christ Jesus.” That other-oriented mindset is, to me, a powerful reason to support Barack Obama for president."

I wasn't aware that we were electing a "pastor-in-chief". Previously, Brian has stated that the idea of Barak as Messiah was a concept of the right. Who is elevating Barak now?

Finally, from Brian's "Debate redux" post:

"I thought it was quite ironic that Senator McCain attacked Obama's experience, when Sarah Palin is the person he chose to be one 72-year-old-heartbeat away from the presidency..."

Shame on you for bringing age into this, Brian. Are you really a reconciler?

Weekend Update

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:43:59 GMT

Ford details on the Friday/Saturday car-buying escapades, go here.

Yesterday was a normal Sunday, Sunday school and church in the AM. Lunch at home, I worked on my lesson for d-group and watched some football. we went to church by 5 and me and several of the guys had a HUGE airsoft war outside...it was a great time. D-group was from 6-8, we talked about the Bible itself, what sets it apart from other books, where it came from, etc. There were lot's of great questions; I was very pleased with the discussion that followed.

Reading: Still reading and greatly enjoying Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics by William Lane Craig. Last week, I finished the chapter entitled "Faith and Reason: How Do I Know Christianity is True?" In it, he talks about the difference between KNOWING and SHOWING Christianity is true.

Listening: Arcade Fire still in heavy rotation, Coldplay is too. On the way to Kansas City last week, we listened to a lot of Johnny Cash. I love listening to my 10-year old sing "Cocaine Blues".

What else is going on: We are still waiting for confirmation from the doctor on whether or not Anne has cancer. It was an anxious weekend, and we are trying to wait patiently. October is a fairly busy month, our church's ministry team leadership retreat is this coming weekend, and my own ministry team's retreat is 2 weekends after that. Someone from church is helping me change Anne's rear brakes tomorrow afternoon.

This week: Write and send weekly parent's email. Prep for this weekend's retreat. LIFE Group lesson. Youth Group lesson. Do some more work on our parent's website. Gather up the courage to swap the HDD on my iBook.

To Kansas City and back...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:35:57 GMT

Friday
9:15 am     Depart for Kansas City, Mo
Noon-ish   Stop in Des Moines at Wendy's, their credit card machine is down, we eat at McDonalds
3pm-ish     Arrive @ Government Fleet Sales in Kansas City

-Take a look at the original car we purchased on E-Bay, immediately disappointed

-Odometer not working
-Dashboard cracked pretty bad
-Drivers door panel on inside disconnected from door
-Headliner falling down in back
-After test driving it, we talk to the manager and express our disappointment
-He apologizes for lack of quality control, and says that they usually don't miss stuff like that

-Anne asks, with the straightest face ever, "How'd this one get by?"
-I almost fall out of my chair

-I ask, "What else can you show us?"

-For the next 2.5 hours, we look at a minimum of 10 more cars. He calls his boss several times.

-Each have varying problems

-2 more have non-functioning odometers
-Bad air conditioning units
-Non-functioning parts

-Windows
-Missing seat bolts

-Hard starts
-"Check Engine" lights
-Balding tires

4:45pm I ask what time they close, salesman says, "6".

-I decide that he's not sliding the dinosaur tail early today.

5:40pm I tell the sales person that we're about done.

-He gets the checkbook to pay me back for the deposit.
-Before he writes the check, he makes one more phone call.

5:45pm We head out to the lot, he basically tells me that out of 5 cars, the choice is mine.

-I sit in each, starting them. Non-cold air on 3, 1 has a bad battery.
-Then number 5.

-1999 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.
-113k miles.
-Pennsylvania State Police detective car.
-Starts right up.
-Cold AC.
-Good tires.
-Drove great.

5:58pm      We'll take it.
6:15pm      Take the rental car back.
7:00pm      Check in to hotel in Overland Park, Kansas.
7:20pm      Go eat at Chili's
9:00-ish     Back to hotel, swim.
10:30-ish   Sleep

Saturday
7:00am     Wake up
7:45am     Breakfast at hotel
8:00-8:45am   John and I take a look at the car
9:00-9:45am John and I go swimming
10:00am   We leave Kansas City for Cedar Rapids
10:00am-4:30pm We learn the power of driving a police car on the interstate.

-Cars get out of the way.
-As cars come up from behind you, they slow down.
-As you enter the interstate, cars slow down when they see you.

You'd slow down, too, if you saw this.

Lessons learned:

Always, always, always go car shopping Friday afternoons, after 3pm.
Let THEM come up with a solution.
The guy who talks first in a negotiation, loses. Always.
Ask for the police center caps.
People will get out of your way when you drive one.

I hate it.

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:51:19 GMT

I hate waking up heavy and burdened.

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to head to the gym. My first thoughts (of course) were song lyrics:

Robed in Light- Luxury

"Oh, and straight to hell
with the life that I've lived so unwell
When I am finally robed in light
When I am finally robed in light"

To You Who Gave Me Hope and Were My Light- Luxury

" I would that I were made new
 I would that I were made new"

I got to the gym, and almost listened to "When Those That Are Not Do Become Those That Are", also by Luxury. I did not, because I would have balled up in a corner and cried over the depravity of man.

Last night in youth group, we talked about the rich young ruler, and how he "went away sad" because he refused to give up the very thing that was keeping him from following Jesus. I challenged those there to search their own hearts for what is keeping them from following God. I know full well what my list consists of. And I too, am saddened by it.

I want to be made new. I want to send to hell the things that separate me.

I got in the car, and Sanctus Real's "Whatever You're Doing" was on:

"Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace...

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Re-evaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow your will
or just climbing aimlessly over these hills"

I got to work, and listened to Jon Foreman's (from Switchfoot) "Instead of a Show"-

"I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when you're singing them
I hate all your show"

Finally, I opened my Bible to Matthew 7:15-23. False prophets. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Trees bearing fruit...good trees/good fruit, bad trees/bad fruit. Not everyone getting in. Obedience being the measurement. People departing.

What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God- through Jesus Christ our LORD.

Redemption.