Kingdom Reflections

Spirituality of Crawfish

2010-06-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Evening I had a profound spiritual experience. It wasn't at church. We had a lovely evening worship service at church. We sang to the Lord, and I talked about fasting. Ironically, most people must have been fasting from Sunday Evening church because most of you were at a feast across the street. As soon as church was done, Sarah and I joined in on the feast as well. A couple in our church hosted a crawfish boil. I love crawfish. I grew up going to crawfish boils as crawfish literally were crawling all around the area I grew up in. There were all kinds of people there. People from our church, our community, family members, and new friends. Kids were running around, jumping the pool, and playing with each other. Parents were enjoying the friendship and fellowship and of course the crawfish. People reconnected with one another. Older people were there. Younger people were there. Church people were there. Non-church people were there. It reminded me of a story in the Gospels.

Jesus had just called Matthew, a tax collector, to come and follow him as a disciple. Before they set off on the road though, Matthew threw a party. There were young folks there. There were old folks there. There were good Jews and tax collectors there. There were sinners and saints. In the middle of it all was Jesus. Many of Jesus' greatest spiritual stories and lessons came over a party at a dinner table. I think that is what I love about the picture of Jesus given to us in the Gospels. While he made it a regular habit to worship in the synagogue, He found just as much spirituality in a party as in the church. Maybe we in the church ought to learn from Jesus and see God outside the church. Like at a crawfish boil.

Blogging - Hope

2010-05-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

I have not been blogging on this site in a while because I have been blogging over at my church's website mertensfbc.com. Here is one of the blogs I wrote. I will be posting others here later.

Hope is something that we talk about often, but something that is hard to articulate. I recently read a novel, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, that ended with very little hope. It was a tragedy in the way that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet are tragedies. It was a wonderful piece of art, a compelling story filled with metaphor, but one that was devoid of redemption. One particular line stands out to me in the book: "Life was a swarm of accidents waiting in the treetops, descending upon any living thing that passed, ready to eat them alive. You swam a river of chance and coincidence. You clung to the happiest accidents - the rest you let float by." This line broke my heart when I read it in the book. The author, through the eyes of the teenage boy Edgar Sawtelle, assumes that life is all chance. Circumstances happen and that you have to go with the flow and cling to the good. The only problem is where is the hope?

The story that we find ourselves in the Gospel Message of Jesus is one filled with suffering and sorrow. Life does happpen. Bad things do happen. People in their thirties get cancer. Babies die before they are supposed to. But the Good News about Jesus is that history is moving somewhere. The Good News of Jesus is that he took life's best shot, took all our violence, sin, and suffering on the cross and then redeemed it. At the resurrection, Christ brought new life and continues to bring it today. So, yes, suffering is still real. But we no longer suffer devoid of hope. We have the hope that one day we will be redeemed fully into the arms of God. We have the hope that God is making all things new and that life is not a series of random happenings, but caught up in God's work to bring resurrection and new life to the world! That is a story worth living for.

Prayer of St. Patrick

2010-03-17T14:15:00.001-07:00

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen

Where Does the Sermon Go from Here?

2010-03-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

I love preaching. I love everything about it. I love listening to good preaching and gaining insights into preaching from some of the finest commincators in the world. In fact right now I am listening to Ephrem Smith, an African-American pastor from Minneapolis. If I do a phd, I will study homiletics and preaching. I love studying the Greek and the Hebrew of the text. I love studying the world of the text. I love studying our congregation and our world to apply the text. I love looking for stories out in the world to help teach scripture. I love praying and thinking through the best way to commincate to my congregation. I even love the manuscripting and sculpting of the sermon. Sundays are my favorite time of week as the delivery comes from the fruit of labor during the week. Sometimes the fruit is more ripe than others, but God uses the foolishness of my study and my limited communicating skills (at least I hope).

However, I have had several discussions and read several articles and books on where preaching is going. The preaching event itself comes from a greek word that means to proclaim. So a sermon is something that proclaims the Word of God. That does not necessarily mean a professional minister who can read the Greek and Hebrew and uses a microphone on Sunday. Proclamation seems to be more than that in the scripture. Seems to me from scripture that proclamation of the Word of God is both a speech event and a lifestyle. I am saying this because there are some rumblings within the church that my generation might be the last generation of professional preachers in America. The church is dealing with a cultural shift both on the outside and within. Music has already been experimented with. Traditional liturgical churches have stepped away a little bit from their tradition, and traditional free churches have sought beauty and worship in the liturgy. The only part of worship that seems to have remained unchanged is the sermon. That seems to be next. Doug Pagitt has already written a book about this. In an email exchange with a popular preacher, she revealed that she believes that the church will find new ways to proclaim the Word of God through speech in a more communal fashion. This is both exciting and scary for somebody like me who loves to preach. I think there will always be a role for a speech event and for God to use a speech event. But what about you? Where do you think the sermon is going in churches on Sundays?

Words from a Dead Woman

2010-02-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again

I shall not live in vain!

- Emily Dickinson

Running

2010-01-28T10:28:00.001-08:00

I hate running. Why run when you can drive? Why run with no purpose? I understand running when you want to dunk on somebody. I understand running when you want to hit somebody. But why run with no purpose? After all I live in Texas with our Texas-sized trucks with airconditioners that would cool the North Pole.

That being said, I just got back from a four mile run, and the first one where I've run four miles in under 36 minutes. You see, I am training for a half marathon, something that I never thought I would do nor have the capability to do. I still am not fond of running, but I find that I am learning quite a bit about myself, my relationship with God, and God's spirit working in me. Running the half marathon is a daunting challenge for me, especially since I am still struggling with four and five mile runs. But what I am realizing is that I have had the capability all along to do it, but I have not had the right practice or properly used my body to do it.

Living the way of Jesus is a daunting challenge. How do you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you? How do you daily take the cross, an instrument of death? You lose your life to save it? How does that work? How do I do God's work in the world? What I am discovering is that God has given us the ability through his grace and the Holy Spirit to do his work. I have to respond by doing the practices that allow God's grace to work in my life. So times of silence, prayer, Bible study, worship, and service all have a new meaning for me. Paul says it like this: Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13).

It's Been a While

2010-01-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. I will get back to blogging regularly. In fact, my wife and I this week are doing another TV fast, so I may blog a couple times this week. But today, I want to leave you with this prayer:

Lord God, almighty and everlasting father, you have brought me in safety to the beginning of this day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me in the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.

TV Fast

2009-12-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

Last week Sarah and I embarked on a journey that most Americans our age have never experienced at home - a week without tv. No ESPN to fill up my morning coffee. No reruns of the West Wing. No Office. No Biggest Loser. No Heroes. Nothing but silence in the house.

I've never done a true fast before. Last year for Lent I gave up sodas for forty days. That's the closest I've ever come to a fast. I do not know whether or not this particular fast would be harder than food (I assume not), but the first two days were difficult. It's kind of like removing yourself from caffine for a couple of days. Your whole body asks what are you doing? My morning routine was thrown off. What would I do?

I read three books last week besides my normal studying for Sunday and Wednesday's sermons. Two of them were on spiritual disciplines - The Spirit of Disciplines by Dallas Willard and Finding Our Way Again by Brian McClaren (Both are excellent. Willard is a much deeper/theological read, but McClaren explains well why the disciplines or practices as he calls them are important for the common person).

In silence you are forced to think deeply about myself. I found out I had idols that I never knew exsisted. I found out that I have a fear of failure, and that I use TV as a way to escape these fears. In the silence, I was able to listen. The story that kept popping into my mind was the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel - "the sound of sear silence."

The silence allowed Sarah and I to reconnect in a way that we had not in a while. Our conversations were not drowned out by flickering pixels. We played games. We laughed. We took care of our dog. We listened.

It's amazing how much silence refreshes the soul. We live in a busy world (even out here in Mertens). We live in a disconnected world, even with the advent of twitter and facebook. Maybe we should disconnect our electronics more and let the silence, laughter, face to face, and deep thinking and praying make us whole again.

Twitter

2009-12-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

I'm having a debate with myself - to tweet or not to tweet?

Twitter is an absolute phenomenon. All kinds of people from Rob Bell to Ocho Sinco are on Twitter. I've read Shane Hipp's book "Flickering Pixels," and agree with his Anabaptist tendencies to be counter cultural in this way (as I write this my wife and I are taking a week long fast of Television).

What do you all think? To tweet or not to tweet?

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

2009-11-18T17:26:00.001-08:00

I like Shane Claiborne. I do not agree with everything he says or writes, but I believe that he has a firm grasp on what the Kingdom of God looks like. Here is a letter he recently wrote into Esquire Magazine to non-believers. Loved it and would like to know what you all think.

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

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Why Church?

2009-11-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the blog delay. I am still getting used to transition from a student-pastor to a full-time pastor in Mertens. I hope that I will be able to blog more in the days to come.

It has become cliche to bang on the church today. Part of that is that we bang on each other within the church and fight over minutia of doctrine in our schools and churches. Part of it is that the church has often aligned itself with some type of politics or politician. I'm not just talking about the Religious Right, but it has been the church's history since Constantine to do so. The church will always have problems. Sometimes (maybe more than sometimes) we focus on the wrong aspects of what it means to be church (such as attendance and building assets). We are full of people who are in the process of being transformed and discipled. We are not on this side of eternity yet.

Yet as I have been more and more immersed in the local church, I have fallen more and more in love with it and more and more convinced that the church of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world, or maybe better said a partner in the healing of the world. The church is a place where you can come and experience resurrection, reconciliation and healing. It's our job, our definition. That is the kingdom vision that Jesus "bought with his blood." But here's the catch, it's not us doing the work. The good news of the church is that we are a people being formed for partnership in God's Mission in the world. God is always at work in the world He created. God is at work reconciling, healing, forgiving, and saving the world He loves through Jesus Christ. The church is invited to participate with God in his work. God forms us for this. The cycle of how healthy church with a kingdom vision works is that God works in us, we work out what God works in, and that cycle continues over and over again. Why church? Because we in the church are continuing to be formed and transformed into Christ's image and to participate in God's mission in the world. What could be more exciting than that?

Words from a Dead Guy

2009-09-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
where there is hatred let me sow love,
where there is injury let me sow pardon,
where there is doubt let me sow faith,
where there is despair let me sow hope
where there is darkness let me give light
where there is sadness let me give joy.

For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in forgiving that we are forgiven,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy

2009-09-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

Found this on my friend Michele's blog! Absolutely hilarious and true.

Gardens and the Kingdom of God

2009-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Moving out to Mertens has reaped benefits for me both spiritually and for the food that Sarah and I eat. We live among farmers who grow all this incredible food. They all not only grow food for profit, but they all have personal gardens which grow the best onions and tomatoes I have ever had. When talking to these farmers about their farming and their gardens, I am struck by how much they do and how much they cannot control. Each year the farmer worries about whether or not it is going to rain or if the sun will scorch the crops. Or they worry if a late freeze that is unexpected will ruin a pasture of freshly planted crops. They worry about animals or insects. What they have told me is that they create the conditions for the growth of crops, but they cannot cause growth.

I do not think it was a mistake that the author of Genesis tells us that the world that God created at peace with him was a garden. A garden is something that you work hard at maintaing. A garden is something that you constantly pull weeds, water, till the ground, prune the plants, and plant seeds. At the same time a garden takes incredible faith. No matter how hard you work, you cannot control whether or not you will have good crops or a beatiful bloom.

The kingdom of God and his church is like a garden. We do have work to do. We have seeds to plant, plants to water, the hungry to feed, and a message of new life in the midst of death. However, we cannot control the result. We are not a repair shop. We are a garden. God is the only one who controls the results of the garden. What do we do in the mean time? Keep working, keep praying, keep becoming his people, and most of all keep loving and proclaiming the Christ story with our lives. God will produce the results. Sometimes they may not be what we think or what we hope for, but this is God's world, God's Kingdom, and God's church. God started the world in a garden, and God resurrected Jesus in a garden. God, may your church be your garden where new life is found.

Vacation and New Monasticism

2009-08-18T09:24:00.001-07:00

This past week, Sarah and I headed to New Mexico and Colorado for vacation. We climbed a couple mountains and got to visit with Sarah's parents who co-pastor a Disciples church in Albuquerque. We actually got to worship with them on Sunday, which was a huge treat because Sarah and I never get to just attend church together.

While we were in Colorado, we stopped by an incredible book store in Denver called the Tattered Cover. If you are ever in Denver, you need to check this place out! I picked up a book there called The New Monasticism by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, who is an associate pastor at St. John's Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina and a leader within the New Monasticism movement. I've only read the first chapter so far, and already he is controversial but challenging at the same time. His thesis that it is hard to be a Christian in America rings true in my ears. I leave you with a quote from his introductory chapter:

"The sign that marks the life of the church in the world is God's victory over death through death - the ultimate winning by losing. Any church that remembers its identity in the transition from Good Friday to Easter morning has reason to hope, even in the darkest night. Yes, it's hard to be a Christian in America. Indeed, the church we know is fraught with contradictions. But God is able to restore life, giving warmth to limbs that were frozen in death. Even if the church is the dead and broken body of Christ, God can resurrect it."

Muddied Living Theology

2009-07-17T07:32:00.001-07:00

My whole life I've stared poverty in the face and either did not know it or did nothing about it. The city I grew up in is notorious for its homeless and poverty-ridden citizens, especially children under sixteen. When I went off to college, I worked at a church and an organization filled with kids living in trailer parks and government housing. While I wrestled through issues in scripture, Greek, Hebrew, and history, 33% of children in the city I lived in knew nothing but absolute poverty. Then I moved onto seminary in one of the most glaringly obvious city's in the world that is divided into haves and have-nots. Every-once in a while growing up I would see a homeless or poverty stricken person come talk to me about how much they love Jesus (always a good way to butter up a person of the church) and how they needed gas money or money for food or rent money. Sometimes I believe them, and sometimes I think they play me for a fool. I live with the tension of wanting to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but at the same time I want to really help and not give money to feed an addiction.

This past week I had my first experience at Mertens with someone coming to my door because I am the pastor and asking for help. She told my wife and I her story brilliantly, and complained about other pastors not helping her out and how wrong that was. I immediately did not believe her. Well, not all of it at least. I do think that some of the story was true, and that she and her husband truly needed help, but she did not have to insult other pastors to feed my ego. Most pastors I know are very generous men and women despite the way we get portreyed sometimes. (In the end we did help her financially. Sarah wisely said that we are called to serve; the people we serve have to decide what to do with it.)

Stories like the lady who visited me this week muddy theology with real life. I believe that Jesus calls us to serve the marginalized and the least of these. I take the verse where Jesus says, "the poor will always be with you," to mean that the poor will always be around you because that is what we are in the business of doing: serving those who are marginalized. Yet here is this woman at my door asking for help and I do not believe her. Muddied. Messy. That's what happens when theology and real life collide. Forgiveness is a great concept to talk about until you have to forgive someone who wronged you. Serving the least of these is heart warming and emotionally captivating until someone shows up at your door asking for help. A living theology is muddy, but somehow I think God is there in the middle of the mud getting his hands dirtied in the messiness of our fallen world.

Scandal of Grace

2009-06-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the blog hiatus. Since graduation, there has been much I have wanted to share with you including some thoughts I've recently had on prayer, our 125th Anniversary celebration at FBC Mertens, and the ordination service of my friend and our music minister John Lassitter. I will post on those in the near future, but right now I have something else pressing in my mind.

My wife and I recently made another technological advance to catch up to the rest of the world and subscribed to NetFlix. Last night after receiving our package in the mail, we watch one of the most depressing movies I have ever scene: Rachel Gettting Married. The plot is about a woman named Kim (played brilliantly by Anne Hathaway) who is a recovering addict getting to leave her rehabiliation facility to attend her sister Rachel's wedding. Kim was in a horrible car accident while she was high, killing her little brother. This devastatingly emotional event drove a wedge in her family, strainging relationships, causing a divorce, and Kim's own tumble into addiction. I will not give away the whole movie (you can watch it if you want to be depressed), but being around her family sober forces Kim to face what she has done instead of hiding behind her addictions. In one scene, Kim is at an AA meeting, and she said something that has caused me to wrestle in my spirit. One of the steps to AA is recognizing there is a power (God) greater than addiction who can remove the shortcomings of an addict. It is a fancy way of saying what the Bible says about forgiveness. At this meeting Kim, who is finally coming to terms with what she has done to her brother and family, says, "I really want to believe in this God who forgives. But I do not know if I can believe in a God who can forgive me."

There it is. The scandal of grace. The scandal of the cross. A God who forgives the worst. It's amazing to me how much we want justice in the world, even when it is ourselves who need punishment. Perhaps that is our way of dealing with the fallen world: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, justice for the drug addict who killed her brother because of her stupidity. The scandal of the cross says that grace extends to even the worst of people. The thief on the cross. The man who sought to persecute and kill Christians. The man who denied Jesus three times when Jesus needed him the most. The woman in rehab. The President caught in a sex scandal. The murderer awaiting his own death. Even the terrorist hiding out in a cave. The scandal of grace reaches to every one of them. It's hard to believe in a God with that kind of forgiveness when there is so much wrong in the world, so much wrong with me. God, open our eyes so that we can see your grace poured out on the cross. Open our arms to receive the scandal of grace resurrected from the dead.

(the sculpture is titled "God's Grace Flows Forth")

Stories, Memories, and Lists

2009-06-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

In two weeks, my church will celebrate 125 years of ministry in the Lord Jesus within the community of Mertens, Tx. For any church to make it 125 years in ministry is incredible, and the fact that FBC is the only church left in Mertens is extraordinary. The last couple of weeks, I have reviewed the past twenty-five year business meeting records. It is about as much fun as it sounds. There are some things that were happening twenty-five years ago that are still happening today. For instance, the same lady that motions that we adjurn the business meeting everytime we meet today did the same twenty-five years ago.

Coupled with reading business meeting notes was studying the end of Colossians. Colossians has been a fun letter to walk through with my church the last 14 weeks. The situation of Colossae is so similar to that of Mertens: a once prominent town now dwindled in size, looking dead from the outside. But Paul says there is something alive there because the Gospel is there, just like Mertens. But he ends the letter with a list. A list? Come on Paul, couldn't you end with something better than that? A list of greetings? Really? Who cares about Aristarchus, or Nympha (or whether or not she is a male or female), or Tychicus? Then I began to study the list a little more. There are Jews there, Greeks, males, females, slaves, and free. The list is more than a list. It is a picture of the church and the mission of God to reconcile the world back to himself. On the list was Onesimus and Mark, who both had to forgive and be forgiven by Philemon and Paul. Then I thought about the business meeting notes. I thought about the basketball court that was built for the kids to have somewhere to play. I thought about the new parsonage that Sarah and I enjoy Show allso much. I thought about the new wing to our building that will serve to disciple people for years to come. I thought about the family who we took care of during Hurricane Katrina thanks to the new building. Or the family that we bought bus tickets even and food even though the church was strapped for cash. I thought about the ten kids living in a trailor home that we provided over fifty Christmas presents for because they could not afford Christmas. I thought about the "friend-in-need" that required $6000 worth of classes to help with rehabilitation. I thought about providing the money for a funeral of a man who could not afford it. The business meeting lists and notes maybe boring reading, but the stories behind it show a picture of the movement and mission of God in Mertens. A list? Don't call it a list. There's a story there!

Words From a Dead Guy (Thanks Jeff)

2009-05-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

I graduate seminary on Friday. I loved my time at Truett, and will miss it greatly. One of the many pleasures of Truett is its historical theology program which introduces its students to the great thinkers, writers, and shapers that have handed our faith down for nearly 2000 years. One writer in particular stands out to me as I leave seminary: John Crystostrom. A philosopher before converting to faith, Crystostrom lived out an intelligent faith and wrote sermons on nearly every topic. As I was studying for my sermon Sunday from Colossians 4:2-6, which speaks of speaking with grace, Crystostrom writes this to preachers:

"If a preacher despises praise yet does not produce the kind of teaching which is 'with grace, seasoned with salt,' he is despised by the people, and his sublime words accomplish nothing. And if he is eloquent but is a slave to the sound of applause, again an equal damage threatens both him and the people, because through his passion for praise he aims to speak more for hte pleasure than the profit of his hearers."

N.T. Wright on the Postmodern Movement 2

2009-05-04T15:45:00.001-07:00

Interesting take on Post-Modernism. I come from a tradition that suspects the advent of Post-Modernism, and often tries to drown out post-modern voices. Let me know what you think of the Good Bishop's take.

Peace in the Chaos

2009-04-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. School and church have been swamping me lately, and I promise I will do better. Plus, I am only four weeks from graduation (and three papers, but who's counting?)

This past Thursday, I participated in my first Maundy Thursday service. My music minister and I dreamed of this service being a reflective service about the night Jesus was betrayed. Our choir sang two somber pieces about the cross. We read the beautiful account of John 13 where Jesus washed his disciple's feet. We took the Lord's Supper together.

But what we did not take into account were kids. Not just kids. Noisy kids. I don't blame them. It's 7:00 on a Thursday night and they are at church instead of at home watching tv, playing outside, or getting ready for bed. It was not their routine. They did not understand that you are supposed to be quiet and think deeply and theologically about the night that Jesus was betrayed. At first it was really frustrating because I thought how distracting and how rude these kids were being. And what were the parents doing? It was absolutely chaotic. But then as I was thinking, a thought hit me, and it had to be the Holy Spirit. I began to think about the night Jesus was betrayed. Surely that night Jesus was betrayed was anything but somber and quiet. It had to be chaotic. Jesus was praying in the garden so intensely that sweat beads of blood were rolling down his face. It had to be chaotic when Jesus bent down to wash his disciples feet, with Simon Peter protesting and Judas contemplating whether or not to betray Jesus. It had to be chaotic when Jesus knowing that this would be last time broke bread and drank wine with his disciples on earth. The crying children, the noisy children, the chaotic atmosphere really made it just like the Thursday of Jesus' betrayal.

Then something amazing happened. We gave each person a blank notecard and a pen. We asked each person to write something they are struggling with and that they need God to take away. At the front there was a wooden cross with some hammers and nails. We asked each person to take what they are struggling with, and nail it to the cross. All of a sudden the kids grew silent, and the only sound you could hear were nails being hammered into the cross. Even some of the kids wrote stuff down and nailed it to the cross. It was a beautiful picture of peace being brought into the chaos. The children and the Holy Spirit taught me alot that night, and made Sunday's celebration that much sweeter. I hope your Holy Week and Easter celebrations were full of Joy, Grace, and Peace! He is Risen!

Imitating Jesus

2009-03-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

I just finished Imitating Jesus by Richard Burridge, who is dean of King's College in London. It is a New Testament Ethics book that begins with the historical Jesus and moves through the works of Paul and the Gospels with the narrative background of Jesus' words and deeds in dialogue with ethics in his test case of South Africa. I enjoyed it very much, although I did not agree with everything he said as he never addressed officially the "elephant in the room" in regards to women in ministry and homosexuality. I am looking forward to comparing it with Hays' Moral Vision of the New Testament, as Burridge is critical of Hays several times. I leave you with an excerpt from the conclusion:

"Thus we cannot ignore the Bible, or tame the wolf (he uses the metaphor of an untamed wolf for scripture), or revisit the canon to remove the 'texts of terror' as some suggest among teh so-called 'liberal mainline denominations' - even if we wanted to. Nor am I prepared to do so. Speaking personally, this book is the word of life, which changed everything around for me when I was an undergraduate and which ahs directed my personal life, ministry and academic career ever since. So I want to grapple with it, read it and try ever to get a better understanding of it, so that I can make sense of it, and yes, apply it to my life and the life of the world in these complext and perplexing times. I am simply not prepared to let the fundamentalist lobby, or even the so-called conservatives, have the monopoly on what it means to be 'biblical' any more than I am willing to all so-called 'liberals' to dismiss it."(407).

Living in Tension

2009-02-19T18:10:00.000-08:00

My church and I are going through Acts for a Wednesday night Bible study. The first four chapters of Acts give this incredible retelling of the earliest life of the church. God is at work, and he is healing people in the temple, tongues of fire are coming down, and the church is completely unified and are taking care of each others needs. God's mission is evident to everybody who comes into contact with it, and it is having a powerful effect on all those who it comes into contact with. I love those four chapters. God is at work. His church is being the church and are participating in what God is up to. But then comes chapter five. I could live in chapters 1-4. Tell me to be a witness. Tell me to heal the lame. Tell me to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Tell me to be as one mind with those in my church. Don't tell me about Ananias and Sapphira. Don't tell me about the human struggles and the consequences that come with them. Don't tell me that there were those in the early church were selfish. Keep me in chapters 1-4. Don't tell me about God judging quickly these two just like Achan. There is this tension in this new community, a tension that exists today. A tension between holiness and grace. The tension is there when I read Jesus. Richard Buridge writes about the tension in his book Imitating Jesus. He writes that the ethics that Jesus taught were incredibly conservative and radical for that day. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us. He teaches us that divorce is unacceptable (except for marital infedelity). Yet at the same time, Jesus is the friend of sinners. When everyone else was going to condemn a woman caught in adultry, Jesus doesn't. When no one else would talk to the Samaritan Woman with five husbands at the well, Jesus does. He heals the blind, the lame, and sets the prisoner free. Jesus not only lived the tension, he is the tension. The question I asked my church last night, and the question that I am still wrestling is how do we live the tension?

Wrestling w/Knowledge

2009-02-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite stories in the Bible occurs on the eve on which Jacob, who had run away from his past, was about to come face to face with his brother, the one who he cheated years earlier. Jacob, sitting alone on the banks of the Jabok, wrestles with a mysterious figure all night long. This mysterious man overcomes Jacob, but Jacob never lets go. At day break, the figure asks Jacob his name (which has all kinds of psychological implications when you read Jacob in context since the first time he was asked that question in scripture, he said he was someone else), and then changes Jacob's name to Israel, one who struggles and is ruled by God. It is a great picture of what it means to journey with God, what it means to struggle with a God who is interactive in his creation.

This past weekend I attended a Pastor's Conference at my seminary, Truett Seminary. The speaker was well-known Christian author and philosopher Dallas Willard. His books, especially Renovation of the Heart, have impacted my life and thought greatly, and so I was already looking forward to the conference before it starts. He argued at the conference that knowledge is more important and is the basis of faith (not surprising coming from a philosopher). That goes against much of what I have been taught. We are often taught to seperate knowledge and faith. Willard says that is where the church went wrong. Now, he does not use knowledge in a Fundamentalist sort of way, or legalistic sort of way. Rather, Willard defines knowledge as interactive relationship. In other words knowledge of God is an interactive relationship with God. It is not a statement of faith, or a leap of faith into the unknown. Rather, faith is rooted in the knowledge of an interactive relationship with an interactive God. In other words, we need to wrestle with God so that we can have an interactive relationship with God. That is what discipleship is all about. It is about interacting with the God who is interacting in the world so that we can get to know who God is and where God is in mission in the world. The scary part of this is maybe we will come away with a limp like Jacob.

Forgiving the Church

2009-01-21T13:41:00.001-08:00

I've been doing a series on forgiveness to start out this year with my church. I've talked what forgiveness is, why we should forgive, praying for forgiveness and of course Christ's sacrifice to forgive. One thing I have not addressed, but am going to this Sunday is forgiveness within the context of a church community. I came across these powerful words penned by Henry Nouwen:

"When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too.

The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.

It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer."

(The picture is Rembrant's depiction of the return of the Prodigal Son)

W's Humor

2009-01-13T07:52:00.001-08:00

I do not know what you feel about our current President. I do not agree with everything he has done, but I find him hilarious (I do not know if that is something I want or need in a President, but it is endearing). In his last news conference he was asked what he was going to do now that his presidency is over. Bush replied, "I do not see myself in an Hawiaan shirt on a beach staring at an Ocean. Particularly since I stopped drinking!" I'm going to miss those one-liners! Maybe I can hang out with him in Waco.

2008 - The Year of Change

2009-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

I know it is a little late to do a reflection on the past year since the New Year is now 10 days old. However, I think that it will take me much longer than 10 days to process, adjust, and learn from the year 2008, which Sarah and I have dubbed the year of change. 2008 was a year that I definitely will look back on as a watershed year as the events of this past year have shaped my life for years to come. This past year

Sarah and I got married! A great change if I do say so myself. I love my wife, I loved our wedding, and I love that we get to wake up every day together and do life together.
I'm going to be an uncle! My sister-in-law, Jenny, is pregnant with baby Anistan Cate Simmons! Seeing as how we will be the only family in Texas, I have a feeling that Sarah and will be close to our niece.
My parents moved from Beaumont to Texas City. No longer when I go "home," do I go to my hometown. It's sad because the church that first gave me my shot in ministry I am no longer a part of, or have much connection there. I am very happy for my parents as they followed what they felt like God was telling them to do. However, a month after they moved, Hurricane Ike came through Texas City (Texas City is 12 miles from Galveston). The house was ok, but many people in their church and surrounding community suffered great damage.
Sarah's parents moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to co-pastor a Disciples of Christ church. They previously lived in Red Oak, which is only 40 minutes from where Sarah and I live now. This will be a big change in our relationship as we will go from seeing them once or twice a month and knowing they are close, to seeing them maybe 3-4 times a year, and them being 12 hours away.
Sarah and I moved to Mertens, Tx as I accepted the pastor of FBC Mertens. I love our church. We had to pack up our house that we had just moved into in Waco and move out here during the middle of the semester. We went from being five minutes away from school to 40 minutes of backcountry farm road driving from school. The church is great, but has been an adjustment for us.
Sarah has decided to take a leave of absence from graduate school. She is selling Premier Design jewlery this semester, so if you are interested in having a show, let me know!

This is just a small list of all the joys and stresses that was the year 2008. Like I said, a watershed year for Sarah and I. I am looking forward to learning all the lessons God is going to teach us through these changes. In the mean time, one of my New Years goals is to blog at least once a week, so be looking for more blogs from me in the future!

The Bible Speaks

2009-01-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

The previous post is from my new joint blog with my Dad called, The Bible Speaks 2 Me. We are reading a chapter (or two) from the Bible each day, and either my Dad or I am commenting on it. We are also asking our churches and our blogging friends to make comments on the daily Bible study to learn from each how God is using the scripture to speak to us. After all, the Bible is a living, breathing book that we as Christians center our way of life around. I hope that you join us in this journey. I will be posting soon some reflections on 2008 and my hopes for 2009.

Genesis 8

2009-01-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Genesis eight continues the story of Noah and the great flood. After the forty days of rain, and the 150 days of flooding, God remembered Noah. I do not think that God ever forgot about him. How else would you explain Noah and all those animals being safe throughout the storm and flood? Verses 15 and 16 explain God's plan all along: recreation. He was going to recreated the world with those who were saved in Noah's ark. After Noah got out of the ark, his first response was worship. He built an altar and sacrificed some of the clean animals as an offering to God. That sacrifice pleased God, and God made a covenant that he would never curse the ground again. Remember in the fall of humanity, God did not curse humans, but rather the ground. Here, God is reversing the curse of the ground. And even though humans are still evil in their thoughts, God promises to not destroy life again.

Two words stand out in this passage. One is that God remembered Noah. God always remembers his faithful. The whole earth was destroyed, but God remembered Noah. There was nothing left, but God remembered Noah. God remembers you as well. Though it may not feel like it sometimes, God remembers you. The second word that stands out to me is God's grace. Even though we deserve death from birth, God gives us the grace to live, and ultimately the grace to live forever with God through Jesus Christ.

God, help us to live by your grace and the knowledge that you promised you would never forget us. Amen

Small Town Church At Its Best

2008-12-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last night small town, small church shone brightly in Mertens, Tx. We had our annual Lessons and Carols, which is your basic Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. Before we started our Lessons and Carols, our children (which we have surprisingly a lot, something must be in the water) performed the "Nativity." The lights were turned down low, with only the stage lights on. There was a small inn to the side of the stage and a barn complete with a manger and Christmas Tree and four bails of hay. Our girl that played Mary appeared on stage and then the music came on: Faith Hill's "A Baby Changes Everything." That's right, Faith Hill. And our kids acted out the nativity as told through the wonderful voice of Faith Hill. It was great. We even had a real live baby Jesus (even though Jesus was a girl last night)! All the kids in their costumes came out: angels, shepherds, wise men, a star, donkeys, camels, and even a pig (poor girl might have a complex later and a pig in a Jewish barn?). It was great. The girl who was the star took the verse literally that the star shone right where Jesus was because Jesus on this night was her sister, and she did not trust our Mary to hold baby Jesus! In fact, she tried to take Jesus at one point, and her mom had to rush to the scene to stop her. After a brief meet and greet time, and rearranging of the furnature, we began our Lessons and Carols. It was beautiful and chaotic at the same time. There were kids all over the place, and parents trying to control them as we read scripture, listened to our chior, and sang Christmas songs in worship of the Christ child. One kid would start crying and then the others would point and say what's that, and then another would run to try and help the baby stop crying. It was crazy and fun and the way that church should be, a family atmosphere. I have a feeling that Jesus smiled at our church last night. When we passed the light from the Christ candle and each person and child helped light up the room with their own candle, it was beautiful. Afterwards we had a Christmas party complete with Santa Claus coming to visit all of our kids. Never has a chaotic celebration seemed so beautiful to me. I leave you with my Advent Reflection as I lit the Christ Candle last night:
We have hoped with the prophets, placed our faith in the promises of God, discovered the joy of new life, and experienced peace beyond human understanding. Now the wait is over. Christ is here and he lights up our dark world.

Clumsy Best Man Makes For A Wet Bride!

2008-12-11T05:27:00.001-08:00

One of the funniest videos I've ever seen!

Heisman?

2008-12-01T09:53:00.001-08:00

61-41

Up Next: Big XII Championship

American Way vs. The Jesus Way

2008-11-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

I started a book last night called The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson. He has come up with what he calls "spiritual theology" and he wrote in his introductory chapter what I have been struggling with lately:

"It didn't take long for some of our Christian brothers and sisters to develop consumer congregations. If we have a nation of consumers, obviously the quickest and most effective way to get them into our congregations is to identify what they want and offer it to them, satisfy their fantasies, promise them the moon, recast the gospel in consumer terms: entertainment, satisfaction, excitement, adventure, problem-solving, whatever. This is the language we Americans grow up on, the language we understand. We are the world's champion consumers, so why shouldn't we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?"

What do you think about his idea of consumer churches and is there any way to avoid it with our consumer-American lenses on?

Lunch Today

2008-11-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

Today Sarah and I ate lunch with our good friend Geoff Price, and his friends from Uganda Godfrey and Joy. Geoff is involved in helping starting an orphanage in Uganda along with Godfrey and Joy. Godfrey and Joy are pastors, and they help run an organization for pastors and churches in Uganda called Arise Africa. Godfrey's heart is in the church. He overseas about 200 churches. What he does is either start churches or go to churches that are struggling and train leaders from within the church to do the work. His biggest concern is helping churches to help meet needs. I asked him what are the basic needs and problems that African churches deal with. He says it is mostly clothing people, feeding people, and mentoring young ministers so that they can take the leadership of the church. Godfrey and Joy's joy were contagious, as they explained how they live out the Gospel in Uganda. This has been a war-torn country, and yet the church has survived and even thrived in the midst of poverty, war, and a lack of theological education among its ministers. Godfrey even invited me to come and speak with the pastors to help them with their theological training. What I always leave impressed and blessed on my life anytime I talk with an African Christian is their reliance upon prayer. They have to rely on God to meet their needs. Godfrey and Joy have 8 children, and they could not pay for school this past year. So that had each one of their kids pray for the money for school, and to be grateful even if God did not provide, and God ended up meeting way beyond their need. Listening for God's voice and prayer are woven in the fabric of African Christians. I need them, and their example. Godfrey and I talked about how he listens for God's voice in every decision he makes, and the joy he sees in God's provision. Certainly the African Church are not without their problems, but we need them as examples of prayer and God's provision.

Table Gospel

2008-11-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I bought a table a few weeks ago. We love it. It is a "grown-up" table as Sarah calls it. The dark wood goes nicely in our three bedroom house in Mertens, which we are incredibly grateful for. We had a table before. It was a Wal-Mart special that I bought when I moved to Waco. It worked, but it was small. The table we have now is big and has a leaf in it. We can comfortably sit eight people at the "grown-up" table. We bought it for ministry purposes. After all we are now at our first pastorate and we know that we will be entertaining people. We needed a nice table to entertain our guests and church members.
The question that I am constantly asking myself is am I too American for the Gospel? I've got nice stuff like our table. I like my stuff. I like our table, and we even used ministry as a justification for buying the table from Patriot furnature (they really do have the lowest prices in Texas!). In my trip to Africa, nobody had a table like mine. Yet over there I learned more about being a Christ follower than I ever have here. I can't wait to go back so that I can learn more. I need those Christ followers, so that I can learn to live out a more authentic following of the Jesus way here in Mertens. I don't know where tables fit in to Christ following, or if that is my American expression of faith. In the mean time, my friend Julie has an excellant post on victimization.

New Blogs Coming

2008-11-01T17:05:00.001-07:00

As Sarah and I have tried to get settled in Mertens, blogging has been put on the back burner. I do have a topic that I am still thinking through and will be thinking through out loud in the next couple of weeks: am I too American to fully accept the Gospel, or to follow the way of the Gospel? It is a discussion that I've thought about through Greg Boyd's Myth of a Christian Nation and a class discussion about a week ago. In the mean time check out two posts that have been meaningful to me lately by Dr. Stroope and my good friend Jeff.

Last Night's Debate

2008-10-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

I rarely talk about politics on this blog for several reasons: 1. A kingdom person is not focused on politics, but rather the mission of God in the world. 2. I can get so wrapped up in politics that it can dominate my time. I am going to vote, and I am making an informed decision about my vote. With that being said, I am declaring last night's winner of the debate: Joe the Plumber. So here's to you Joe, way to capture America's hearts, and the hearts (maybe the anecdotal heart that appeals to voters) of the candidates.

Slowing Down

2008-10-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

Life is hopefully starting to slow down just a bit. Sarah and I have pretty much moved into the house in Mertens, and we love it up here so far. This time of change and transition not only getting married but also moving and becoming a pastor has caused a lot of stress and anxiety for both Sarah and I. I always used to look at stress and anxiety as bad things, but it really is not. For me, it has caused me to look to God even more, and made me long for those times of silence and praying the Psalms. As life slows down, and hopefully as Sarah and I get into a routine of somekind, we will be able to cherish the rhythm. I leave you with pictures of the new house.

Thinking Out Loud

2008-10-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

I am not an economist. Most of the language of the bailout is foreign to me since I have not had an economics class since high school. I did study a little bit of economics with Dr. Mullins in my history classes at OBU, but only enough to confuse myself even more. But I have made one observation. Many people go into debt trying to make the allusion that they are higher socially (whether this is conscious or unconscious I don't know). Our national debt is now about to hit the $10 trillion mark. I can't even fathom that much money. We talk about America being the greatest nation in the world, and to be honest I would not live any other place. But I wonder if all our debts, both individually and as a nation, are now catching up with us. We are in desperate need of Jubilee!

On another note, Sarah and I are moving Friday to Mertens, Tx. Excitement, anxiety, nervousness, and joy are swirling within us right now. The people of Mertens have been so kind to us already, and now my good friend John Lassitter is going to join us out there as music minister. I have a feeling God is going to move there in us and through us.

I'm a Pastor!

2008-09-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

I am now the pastor of FBC Mertens, Tx. To be honest, it is not the place where I would have expected God to place Sarah and I, but it is a great church. Mertens is a town with a blinking light and a Coke Machine (literally), but is an incredible community. I am looking forward to serving the people there as we navigate how to live out the Way of Jesus in Mertens, Tx! Pictures will be coming soon of the house.

Changes

2008-09-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Changes. That has been the theme for Sarah and I's life the past few months. It has been unbelievable to see how our lives have been changed, even before marriage. In the past few months Sarah graduated undergrad, I was ordained, I did an internship in Arlington, we rented a house together (though we did not live together), Sarah basically lived out of a suitcase this summer, Sarah started grad school, my parents moved, Sarah and I are going to be an Aunt and Uncle, Sarah and I are most likely going to move to Mertens, Tx, and we got married two weeks ago today! I'm looking forward to seeing how God is going to work through this time of changes. What I have noticed is that I have longed for the times of silence with God through this. With that in mind, I leave with with a few pictures from the wedding.

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Bonhoeffer

2008-07-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is an excerpt from a letter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Our church, which has been fighting in these years only for its self-preservation, as though that were an end in itself, is incapable of taking the word of reconciliation and redemption to mankind and the world. Our earlier words are therefore bound to lose their force and cease, and our being Christians today will be limited to two things; prayer and righteous action among men. All Christian thinking, speaking, and organizing must be born anew out of this prayer and action. By the time you have grown up, the church’s form will have changed greatly. We are not yet out of the melting-pot, and any attempt to help the church prematurely to a new expansion of its organization will merely delay its conversion and purification. It is not for us to prophesy the day (although the day will come) when men will once more be called so to utter the word of God that the world will be changed and renewed by it. It will be a new language, perhaps quite non-religious, but liberating and redeeming – as was Jesus’ language; it will shock people and yet overcome them by its power; it will be the language of a new righteousness and truth, proclaiming God’s peace with men and the coming of his kingdom. ‘They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it’ (Jer. 33.9). Till then the Christian cause will be a silent and hidden affair, but there will be those who pray and do right and wait for God’s own time. May you be one of them, and may it be said of you one day, ‘The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter till full day’ (Prov. 4.18). (p. 300)

A Craving for the Authentic

2008-07-21T20:53:00.001-07:00

I am one of the few in the America that has not yet seen the Dark Knight, although I hope that will change over the weekend. I have read a few movie reviews, all which say that this movie is incredible. Manahola Dargis of the New York Times wrote a very thought provoking review of the movie. In it she writes, "Apparently, truth, justice and the American way don’t cut it anymore. That may not fully explain why the last Superman took a nose dive (“Superman Returns,” if not for long), but I think it helps get at why, like other recent ambiguous American heroes, both supermen and super-spies, the new Batman soared." In other words, we want our heroes in a "postheroic" culture to have an edge, even to be flawed or have some kind of struggle in some way. We crave authenticity. Perfection is no longer a requirement for our heroes anymore. Instead, we want our heroes to feel the intense struggle of life like we do.
The other day I tuned into a Christian radio station in the Dallas area to listen if they would play my future sister-in-law's band. A promotion for the radio station came on and proclaimed that this particular radio station was "fun and safe for the whole family." Put that together with the success of the Dark Knight and you see a clash of ideas between the Christian Ghetto and the mainstream public. The public craves authenticity in their saviors, where the Christian world boasts of safety and fun. Does anyone else see the problem?
The irony is that Christianity does offer an authentic savior. We have a savior and redeemer who did struggle. We love to worship and ponder Jesus being God, but have to remind ourselves that Jesus was a man. However, if you would sit around the campfire with Jesus' disciples in the early 1st century and say, "Hey did you know that Jesus was a man," they would look at you crazy and say "Duh, of course he's a man." When we actually read the Gospels, especially Mark and Luke, Jesus' humanity begins stand out. The struggle is there as he is tempted to show his power and might to the world. The struggle is there knowing full well that he could militarily raise an army to defeat Rome. The struggle is there when some of the Jews try to crown him king after he miraculously feeds them. Jesus struggled. We don't like to think about that. But it must have been such a temptation to take over the world. The struggle was so intense the night before he died, that Jesus literally sweat drops of blood. Our Savior does know what it means to struggle, and because of his struggle, God gives us life.

Dancing All Over the World

2008-07-08T08:29:00.001-07:00

I don't understand it, but I like it! This guy Matt does this awkward dance (actually looks like me dancing) all over the world. The New York Times also has done an article about it.

Dr. Joel Gregory

2008-06-28T18:42:00.001-07:00

Classic Dr. Gregory. I love this man.

Mystics?

2008-06-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, I've always thought that mysticism was something that only weird people did. I thought that they have missed the point of Christianity by secluding themselves only to think. I read in my Texts and Traditions I class about mystics who would barely eat together, and some who would even refrain from taking part in communion because they wished to be alone with God. Walter Rauschenbusch, the father of the social gospel, said that mysticism was a waste of time, and that Jesus was not a mystic but rather a social revolutionary. Mystics dedicated their lives to the spiritual and sometimes to seclusion and being weird. I always thought that they were insane hermits living alone out in a desert somewhere. It was not until lately that I have become dissatisfied with my own "quiet time" that I have found beauty in the mystic tradition. Quiet times are taught to children in evangelical churches in order for a person to spend a few moments alone with God. In my own journey, I have found that I have become legalistic about my quiet time, and it became more of a law to fulfill rather than an organic alone time with God. Quite honestly, my quiet times were often pretty selfish, ending with prayers about what is going on in my life and not being quiet listening for the voice of God. Add to that my fascination with Greek, Hebrew, and preaching, my quiet times turned into what will preach time. At Truett, thanks to Dr. Talbert, I have been exposed to other forms of Spiritual formation that I have lacked in my journey up to this point. I would be lying if I told you that I have done each and every one of them or even liked all of them. I have not, but what they have taught me is to center my focus onto God. In my last post, I talked about the impact Thomas Merton is having on me. The more I get into mysticism and the poetry, silence, and beauty that comes with it, the more I realize that God is a mystery, and that without mystery, there is no beauty. G.K. Chesterton said, "Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery, you have health; when you destroy mystery, you create morbidity." God is ultimately a mystery, and we need to be open to they mysterious part of God, because it keeps us at peace.

An Inward Journey

2008-06-09T08:31:00.001-07:00

Recently, I have started to get into more of the mystical writings with my journey with God. I love scripture, and I have given my life to studying scripture. However, that often dominates my time with God, and so I am exploring other disciplines with my journey. I came across a book by Thomas Merton, who was an American monk. I had heard about Thomas Merton from Greg Boyd, a pastor in Minnesota who I listen to on Podcast. The book I am going through is "A Book of Hours." It is a book dedicated to praying the hours with Thomas Merton's reflections, poems, writings, and inward examinations. This quote is from today's reading during the "Day" portion of Monday: "Perhaps I would rather be guilty and weak in myself, than strong in Him whom I cannot understand." Wow. This statement has caused me to really look at myself. It is easy to proclaim God with your own strengths. But to truly rely on God, and be strong in God, who we can never fully understand. That is truly scary. And that's why God is Holy.

Pictures from the Ordination

2008-06-03T20:35:00.001-07:00

These are a few pictures from the ordination service. As you can see, I really wanted to eat a piece of cake, but we were taking too many pictures. I kinda felt like a celebrity.

My lovely bride-to-be, Sarah and I

Grandma and Grandpa

Future In-laws

Parents, Grandparents, Sarah, and myself

Weddings, Ordination and Other Updates

2008-06-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

A few of you all have asked for updates to see how Memorial Day Service went over. We had a good service. As I expected, there were several songs honoring America, and our soldiers out there on the front line. Actually, the special music that day talked about the need for a few good men to be out there on the front lines for God. The judge gave a speech where everybody clapped about how we are losing our country to godless people, and how the government is trying to take God and Jesus Christ out of everything. Then I led the church in a time of pastoral prayer before reading the scripture. We prayed for our soldiers, their families, for people who have lost loved ones in the past year, and finally our enemies. It actually went over well. I had several people come up to me and tell me how powerful the prayer time was. I was happy about that. In the sermon I talked about how Paul was having an effect on the Roman Praetorian Guard, who were the most powerful men in the Roman world outside of Caesar and the senate. Overall, the service actually turned out pretty good, better than I thought it would.
In other news, I was ordained this past weekend. It was a special time for me. My dad performed the service and did a phenomenal job as he always does. The ordination council was made up of men who I have had close relationships with for 12, almost 13 years. Several of them were my Sunday School teachers growing up, and I even worked with a couple when I was on staff at the church. My cousin Elise was married in Houston this weekend as well, so all my family was in town, which made it even more special. Sarah of course was there, and her parents were nice enough to come down to Beaumont for the service. It was a great and moving experience last night. I am really grateful for the people God has put in my life to mold me into the person I am today.

Memorial Day Service

2008-05-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

This coming Monday is Memorial Day. Most of us like Memorial Day because it is a day that we get off from work. It was originally started 140 years ago to put flowers and remember the Civil War soldiers. After WWI, it became a day of remembrance for all of our fallen soldiers. I am really grateful for soldiers who put their lives on the line for our country. America has truly had brave men and women serve in her armed forces. I do believe that these brave people should be honored and remembered. I was asked a couple weeks ago by the elders at the church I serve at to do a special sermon to remember the soldiers. It just so happened that in going through Philippians we are coming to the passage where Paul talks about advancing the Gospel through the Praetorian Guard, the special-ops of the Roman Army.

My struggle is that while I do want to remember our soldiers, and every family member or friend that we've lost, I feel like Memorial Day in churches has become another way that American churches promote folk religion. In the Memorial Day services that I have been apart of and have watched on TV done by the Mega-churches, it has become a service that celebrates American greatness and not the resurrection of Christ. I do not know if that is intentional or not, but it concerns me. I do believe in honoring our country. I love the Fourth of July, but I think we need to remember that as Christians, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. Citizens of the Kingdom of God do honor soldiers, but also pray and love for our enemies. That is often missing in Memorial Day services. I believe that the Kingdom of God rejects the Kingdom of the Sword, and the violence that is brought with it. The Kingdom of God brings peace and new life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm not quite sure how to convey this pastorally to a congregation so tied in with American pride. Don't get me wrong, I think it is good to have pride in one's country, but remembering that the Kingdom of God often calls us to do the opposite of what society says. Tomorrow, we'll remember our soldiers, our loved ones, and friends in a time of prayer and remembrance. Although this might be unpopular, I think that I will also lead a time of remembrance for our "enemies" who have lost loved ones as well, and a prayer that God's peace will advance in a seemingly hopeless situation. What do ya'll think?

Softball teammates carry opponent around the base

2008-05-09T08:18:00.001-07:00

I saw this a couple weeks ago, and it's an incredible story of sportsmanship.

Racism Still Very Much Alive

2008-04-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

I could not believe it when I read it, but an editor for the Missouri Baptist newspaper has actually written a book defending the Confederate Flag.

The picture to the right is from the cover of Hinkle's book. And we wonder why Sunday is still the most segregated day in America.

Small is Beautiful

2008-03-31T21:23:00.001-07:00

I preach each Sunday at a church similar to this in Adamsville, Texas. It is actually a Presbyterian church which was established in 1897. The building has been there since 1906. It is a long drive early each Sunday morning out there, but I enjoy it. It keeps me from being in the theoretical all week long. Sometimes you never know what you are going to hear out there. For instance, my first Sunday out there, they told me they always have a time of special music. I thought, that's great, somebody from the church gets up and sings. Then I found out that this is actually done by CD. My first Sunday Elvis was in the building singing "He Touched Me." Since then we've had everything from MercyMe to Scottish Bagpipes for "special music" time. As you might expect at a rural church, you hear things that sometimes make me wince or laugh to myself. My favorite was when we had a young boy out there and I mentioned HIV in a sermon. He says in a voice loud enough for me to hear, "Mom, it's not HIV, it's HIJKLMNOV!" Half of the 20 people who come are related in some way or another. However, this church will surprise you. One man, Mr. Perkins, is 90 years old. Last November, he set a world record in the shot put for people 85 and older. He also survived in a Japanese war camp for over 600 days. There is Judge Pru, an 87 year old man who might be the biggest patriot I've ever met. He's one of those guys people in my generation like to poke fun of his American pride. However, a few Sundays ago he described in tears how much this church meant to him. He described about how much they love each other, pray for each other during the week, and how proud he is that they give about 30% of their money to a children's home. There is Bob, who got all bent out of shape a couple weeks ago because the KJV Bible had "doest thou believe in the Son of God?" and the version I read said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He didn't understand that these were the same terms. But Bob is one of those men who you can tell is in constant contact with the spirit. He is one of the most gentle and loving men I have ever been around. Bob encourages me in my preaching, and prays all week for the service that God may touch lives through the service of the church. I hear folk theology all the time out there, and I try to combat it in my sermons as gently as I can, but they have something that many intellectuals and serious students of the Bible do not: a community that loves each other, and a community, even though it is small, dedicated to spreading the love of Christ. We may not have the glamor and size of other churches, but the Spirit is there, and God is glorified just the same.

Zeus vs. God

2008-03-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

I hear a phrase every once in a while that makes me cringe a little bit, but is popular in some circles of Christianity, "To understand the mercy of God, we must understand the wrath of God." I don't hear it very often at Truett, but I do read it on blogs, hear it in sermons, and in popular Christian literature today. Partially, I agree with that statement, but where people go after that statement horrifies me. Most of the time, they then go on to present a god who is angry all the time and who just wants to deal out punishment to the wicked people of earth. It is a judicial presentation of a god sitting on a throne ready to zap those who do wrong. The only way people are then saved from this angry, lightning throwing god is that they have Jesus in some sense as their lawyer. Jesus then is almost presented as Johnny Cochran who always gets his defendants acquitted. The problem I have with this system of looking at God is that it is not the God encountered in the Bible. I agree, humans are totally deprived. We all have a sin nature and are in need of a Savior in Jesus Christ. God, however, is not sitting on his throne ready to zap us. That is not God, that is Zeus. What I am about to say is an idea taken from one of my seminary friends, Chris Doe. I am taking his initial idea, and then expounding upon it a little bit. God as he is presented in the Bible is a "Holy God," meaning that God is wholly other than his creation. As a result, we will never fully understand God. God time and time again is presented as a being of love. Over and over again the Old Testament says that God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abiding in steadfast love (Psalm 145, Jonah 4, Exodus 34:6). So how do we understand his wrath? Since God is a Holy God, we do not understand the full implications of his wrath. However, my friend Chris has a good statement: "God's wrath is tied in with his love." It is a wrath born out of his love for his creation. Therefore, God's wrath is not ultimately just arbitrary against wicked people, but has a purpose of redemption and restoration. Take for instance the flood account. After the fall in chapter 3, Genesis presents a human society that grows more violent and wicked by the generation. By the time we arrive at chapter 6, all the human hearts are wicked and their thoughts evil, outside of Noah. So God is grieved. God is hurt and upset that humans are destroying the world he created and loves. The God presented here is a God who feels, who hears suffering, and who wants to restore his creation. God's wrath here is not to arbitrarily wipe out human society, but rather to recreate the world God loves. This is a story not of destruction, but one of salvation. Through God's love of the world, he saved the world from itself. That is the wrath of God, not a destroying wrath, but one of recreation. God's wrath is born out of his love for humans and his creation, and is in some way a representation of God's mercy.

SBC Going Green

2008-03-17T13:26:00.001-07:00

Some in the Southern Baptist Convention are waking up to the need to go green. You can read about it here

The Earth is YHWH's and all that is within it!
Psalm 24:1

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

2008-03-12T16:21:00.001-07:00

I'll never be ashamed of being a man and peeing standing up again!

Marvin

2008-02-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

This past summer, I wrote several blogs about my experience in Kenya. Most of it was how I saw God working among the poorest of the poor in Kenya. However, I left out a big part of the story. I met and fell in love with my future wife Sarah there. Someone who was instrumental in Sarah and I coming together was this little guy above, Marvin. Marvin spoke no English, and honestly did not speak much at all (until Marc decided it would be a good idea to give him six cookies). His eyes told his story. They were eyes of hope, love, and acceptance. Whenever you looked into Marvin's eyes, your heart melted and fell in love with the kid. Even though he did not talk, he was a smart kid. He was always looking around, checking things out. Marvin's mom was learning a trade so she could take care of Marvin and herself at a place called Beacon of Hope. I love that name Beacon of Hope, and Marvin's presence there personified that ministry. We met Marvin at the chapel service when we first visited Beacon of Hope. He came right up to our team, and we immediately fell in love with him. For some reason, he wanted to hang around me (or maybe it was mutual). Sarah, who loves kids, was gravitated to him as well, and there is a picture Sarah, Marvin, and myself all holding hands while he looked up with those eyes at Sarah. It was almost like he was saying that Sarah and I should be together. Like I said, smart kid. There was another moment when Marvin and I were playing that he came and hugged me. Never has my heart been so warm as it was in that moment. I looked up, and there was Sarah looking at me with her blue eyes. It was at that moment I knew something special was happening between us thanks to a quiet, but loving and hopeful boy named Marvin, who hopefully Sarah and I will see again.

Kenyan Children

2008-01-28T12:43:00.000-08:00

The picture to the left depicts one of the many sacred moments I experienced in Kenya this past summer. We were at Xcel School in the Kibera slum next to Nairobi. This slum is three miles long and a half mile deep. When I visited it this summer, it was estimated that about one million people live in this small stretch of land. Sadly, this slum has been home to much of the tribal violence going on in Kenya over the past month. In the couple of days my team and I spent at Xcel School, we had several moments where we could feel Heaven crashing into Earth. One of those moments happened right before lunch the first day we were there. The school feeds the kids ugali, rice, and beans every day. For many of the kids, that was the only meal they would have all day. Before they are fed, however, they pray together. Each kid, out loud, and in Swahili. Those prayers, prayers of genuine gratitude, impacted our whole team, even though we had no idea what they were saying. Now these kids are not only praying for thanksgiving, but also for peace. The article below originally ran in Baptist Press.

NAIROBI, Kenya (BP)--A group of children runs up a muddy path, drenched from an unexpected downpour. A 5-year-old boy speeds in front of the pack when he suddenly spies the perfect puddle.

He waits until his older sister and friends are almost parallel with him and then practically "cannon balls" to get the biggest splash. He giggles and dashes inside a small, tin shack of a Baptist church as the 8-year-olds squeal and chase after him.

After three weeks of post-election violence, it's good to hear the sounds of children laughing and playing -– especially in the hard-hit slums of Nairobi.

Inside the church, it's wall-to-wall children -– and a sound even more precious than laughter can be heard –- a child's sweet, innocent prayer.

"Father, our country is in trouble. We pray for peace to come," an 11-year-old boy prays. "Protect us, Father. Teach people to love one another and not to fight anymore."

For the last two weeks, children in this small slum area have gathered to pray for their country. The church's pastor says the children started gathering on their own, so he let them in the church. The daily prayer meeting now attracts more than 200 children ranging in age from 3 to 17.

Ever since the children started praying together, the pastor says there have been no deaths, houses burned or even violence in their section of this slum. Adults recite this fact in amazement. The children, however, don't even mention it because it's exactly what they expected to happen.

"Pastor told us that there is power in prayer. He said we can change the country through prayer," 12-year-old Boniface explains. "So that is what we are doing, changing the country."

The children evidence a depth of understanding of the issues surrounding Kenya's post-election chaos.

The 12-year-old prays for President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to sit at one table and talk peacefully. Votes cast in the election for these two candidates are under contention. The two leaders have yet to talk to each other in an effort to bring the strife in Kenya to a peaceful resolution.

Caroline, 16, shows her concern for the 250,000 internally displaced people around the country. She prays they will be able to go to school somewhere and that they feel safe. UNICEF estimates that more than 40 percent of the displaced are children. Parents put their children on trucks headed to the camps for displaced people but stayed behind to protect their houses and belongings. Many sit in camps, unable to attend schools that just opened in mid-January.

Another young boy prays for the people hurting others who are not from the same tribe, referring to reports of ethnic animosity throughout the country. He asks God to help them all be brothers and sisters and one people.

The pastor smiles and whispers to me, "A few days ago that one asked if I knew what tribe he was. I told him no. He didn't know, either. So he told me, 'I think I belong to the tribe of Kenya.'"

When it's time for the "babies" to pray, a fearless 4-year-old clasps his hands and closes his eyes so tight that his entire face scrunches up. "God, people die," he says in prayer. "Please do not let anyone die in front of my house."

More than 600 people have died since elections Dec. 27. The number increases daily as violence and protests continue.

An adult's concluding prayer simply thanks God for the innocent prayers of children and their faith in His answers.

As soon as the "Amen" is said, the church buzzes with little voices and bottled-up energy spurts out freely. Laughing and holding hands, the children rush into the rain and head home.

Even though it's the dry season and rains are not supposed to come for another month, no one complains about getting wet or muddy. The rain is an answered prayer.

The children had prayed about a three-day countrywide protest called by the opposition party. They had asked God to take control and keep people from dying.

Because of the rains, turnout for the protest was much smaller than expected. While there was still a lot of property damage, it was much less than predicted. Death tolls for the week were the lowest since the incidents started.

"See," 7-year-old Natasha whistles through her missing two front teeth. "God answers prayers."
--30--
Sue Sprenkle, an overseas correspondent for the International Mission Board, has been reporting from Africa for 10 years.

May we all learn from these kids to pray for peace, and may we all have a "child-like" faith.

Replacing Water with Wine

2008-01-25T21:35:00.001-08:00

If you did not know, I got engaged about a month and a half ago to the beautiful woman in the picture with me on the left (if you are reading on Facebook, you cannot see this, but she is in my profile picture). I never knew how much planning actually goes into a wedding. Sarah's roommate is a wedding planner, and makes a good living doing it (she is doing our wedding by the way). In the past few weeks, I have learned what runners, calililies, monkey tails, baguettes, and so many other things that I had no idea went into a wedding. It's amazing how much planning actually goes into an event that lasts for six-seven hours, and I'm grateful because Sarah and I will be able to enjoy that day and remember it forever. Imagine though planning a wedding that doesn't last for just seven hours, but seven days! That is how the weddings were in the 1st century Judaism. The couple would have the ceremony under a Chupah, and then walk through the town as people provided the light to walk by lanterns. They would then go and know each other in the biblical sense, and then come back out for the reception which would last for seven days! The couple would be given crowns and robes to wear, and would be treated like royalty for the duration of the celebration. Essential to this party was wine. In the Bible, wine is seen as a blessing from God. God wants us to celebrate, and wine was a symbol of joy and celebration. However, since it was a gift from God, they would not drink to get drunk because that would disrespect God's blessing. To some of you, this seems like your kind of party! It obviously was for Jesus, because in John 2 we find Jesus at one of these wedding celebrations. But something happened. The party ran out of wine. This was a social shame. Not having enough wine to supply your guests would be a family shame for years. So the host of this party was in trouble because he had run out of wine. Jesus' mother found this out, and comes to Jesus for help. And so Jesus, reluctant at first because he knew if he did this sign, the way to the cross would be coming soon, as hour for the book of John is symbolic of the cross. But Jesus saves the day and turns the water into wine. It's interesting what water Jesus uses to turn into the wine. He uses the huge buckets that hold 20 to 30 gallons of water that were used for the purity rituals to keep a good Jew "clean." Clean and unclean was of upmost importance for the 1st century Jew. It became so important that they would send lepers to live in isolation from the community, they would not eat certain kinds of food such as pork, and would only associate with Gentiles if they had to. If they came into contact with any of these "unclean" things, they would go through this washing ceremony before they could worship or even eat. The water would wash away the "unclean" and make one "clean." Jesus, who said it was not on the outside of the person but on the inside of the person is what makes one clean, takes this ritual water and turns it into win. According to Amos 9, wine is going to be a symbol of the new age of salvation and restoration of humans to God. So when Jesus replaces this water with wine, he is saying something more. He is saying the age of salvation and restoration is here, and that Jesus' way is replacing the old way of ritual. The question then for us is what does Jesus need to replace in our lives? For our churches, what does Jesus need to replace there? Does he need to take our judgementalism and replace it with grace? What does Jesus need to replace our old way of doing things, with his way of grace and restoration?

Five Overtimes Later . . .

2008-01-24T08:44:00.001-08:00

Five overtimes later, and Baylor has won my heart. I liked them before, but I love them now. Coach Drew is a great coach and an even better man. Last year, they lost a heartbreaking game to Texas where Kevin Durant went nuts in the last five minute of the game. The game went into overtime, and the team did not get back until late on a Saturday night. The next day though, Coach Drew was volunteering in the nursery at his church, teaching two-year-olds how to shoot a basketball. Last night, Baylor outlasted Texas A&M on the Aggie's homecourt. It took 5 overtimes, but Baylor and Coach Drew finally got their signature win. Baylor has overcome a lot, including not having a non-conference schedule a couple years ago due to violations from the last coach. The program survived the black eye, and hopefully Baylor will be in the NCAA's this year. Congratulations to Coach Drew and the basketball program.

Martin Luther King Day

2008-01-21T12:16:00.001-08:00

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I grew up hearing about Dr. King, and enjoying the day off dedicated to him growing up. However, I really began to study his life as a sophomore in college. His writings and life was incredible, and I hope we can take up his message of love and continue to repair racism in our country.

OBU Basketball

2008-01-15T08:17:00.001-08:00

I had a lot of good memories going to OBU games. I think I only saw them lose four times in the four years I was there. But I never saw anything like this.

Ephiphany

2008-01-07T18:07:00.001-08:00

This is Leonardo DaVinci's depiction of the Magi coming to visit Jesus. It shows the Magi worshiping Jesus in the middle of chaos. I like it because I think that is the picture that Matthew is trying to paint in his gospel. After all, Herod and all Jerusalem with him were grieved at the Magi's appearance and their request to find the "King of the Jews." Yesterday was the on the Christian calender the day of Epiphany. In the Western church, that is the day that the Wise Men (Magi) are celebrated as to have revealed the Christ child and have had the Christ child revealed to them. I have never been into the church calender much, but after studying a little bit about Epiphany, I really enjoyed this day. Epiphany comes from two Greek words (maybe another reason why I enjoy Ephiphany) epi and phaneo. Both of them together mean to reveal or to show. The story itself is so interesting to me. Here we have these Persian priests who study astrology recognize that a significant world figure is born. During this time there were whispers of a great world leader being born in Judea as the Roman historian Tacitus wrote about this. So they come to the most logical place to find a great leader or ruler born in Judea, Jerusalem, the capital. There they meet"King" Herod. Herod was not really the king, as Rome was in control. He was more of a governor. Herod was so concerned to keep power that he wanted to be just like Rome. He would build these massive buildings, much like the Romans would. He even built a temple dedicated to a Roman god, as well as a huge palace for himself, and renovations to the temple in Jerusalem where the Jews would have worshiped. He wanted to keep power so badly and be like the Romans so badly that he missed Jesus. The Magi also talked to the chief priests. They knew all the answers, and even told the Magi where the Messiah was to be born. But in all their study, and in all their pursuit to be right, they missed Jesus. No, it was these Gentile astronomer priests who found Jesus. They gave him three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These gifts really told the story of Jesus. The gold is what you would give a king. We know that Jesus is the King of kings and came to establish God's kingdom here on earth. Frankincense is an incense that priests used during sacrifices. We know from Hebrews 4, that Jesus is our great high priest. And myrrh is an embalming spice. Jesus of course came not to rule by force, but to rule by death on a cross. Through these gifts they made known the story of Jesus. I guess my question is do we with our lives make known the story of Jesus? It's so easy to be like everybody else and conform to society like Herod did. The pursuit of money and consumerism is so easy to follow. The other extreme that many evangelical Christians fall into is wanting to be right and have all the answers, just like the chief priests. However, we have become so concerned with being right, that sometimes we miss Jesus. Yes, we should study the Bible. But we do not study the Bible to argue with people, especially lost people. We study the Bible to live better, to be more Christlike. Our lives should tell the story of Jesus. We are now the epiphany to which Jesus can be revealed to those who need him on earth.

A New Year

2007-12-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I absolutely love this picture. I found this on Greg Boyd's blog, a pastor in Minnesota, a few weeks back. It shows Jesus washing the feet of Osama Bin Ladin, who is right next to the world's major leaders, including President Bush. Its so easy to hate a man as evil as Bin Ladin. Don't get me wrong, I do not like him and I think the world would be safer without him. However, I was reminded of something today. My Dad has started a blog that is reading through the Bible in three years starting today. He has asked his church to read along with him while sharing their insights about the particular chapter being read as well. Today's chapter was Genesis 1, the creation account. Genesis 1 is such a beautiful, poetic account of the way God created the world. In it we are taught that God created humanity in his own image, male and female he created them. God created us. We, as humans, reflect God in the world as his creation. We all are fallen, we know that in chapter 3 of Genesis. But I love that the Bible doesn't start with the fall. It starts with the beautiful poetry of how God created the world, and the perfect rhythm that the world was in when God created it. Jesus came to restore us to that rhythm. One of the things he wants us to do in part of the restoration of the world is to love our enemies. I think this ties back into creation. We are all apart of humanity, all loved by God. In Christ's kingdom how you conquer enemies is not by forceful violence, but by loving service. It is through a towel and not a sword. What a great reminder this picture is. This year, let's show Christ-like love not only to our friends and family, but also our enemies.

National AIDS Day

2007-11-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

Today is National AIDS day awareness. This past summer, I had the opportunity to meet many HIV/AIDS victims while in Africa. Some were incredibly sick, with very little hope for recovery. Some were doing extremely well, but still has the scarlet letter of HIV positive branded upon them, and they are treated many times like outcasts in society. I'm glad that the church is starting to finally wake up to this important epidemic. Rick Warren has, and what I like about Pastor Warren is that he does not agree with every body he works with to help solve it. Yesterday in fact he had Hilary Clinton speak at his church, along with video messages by Barak Obama, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee. Check out the article here, and notice Pastor Warren's statement about politics in the second section of the article.

Veteran's Day and Church

2007-11-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not know, I have been preaching at Adamsville Presbyterian Church. Adamsville is a very small community with one blinking light. The congregation, as you can imagine, is small, only about 20-30 members. They are an older congregation, but a very interesting one. There is a judge in the congregation who was a Lt. Colonel for thirty years, and served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Another man, Mr. Perkins just last week set the world record for shot put for 85+ year olds (he turns 90 tomorrow). His story is incredible. He was a POW for over 600 days in a Japanese prison camp in WWII. After church, I talked with him and his wife, and his outlook on life is so positive and the man is still built like a tank. Even as a 90 year old, I would not want to mess with him! The reason we were able to hear these stories is because yesterday was Veteran's day, and we honored those who served in our military. I enjoyed and was humbled hearing the stories of heroism and the service to our country. I was reminded of my uncle who served in Vietnam and received a bronze star.

While I enjoyed hearing the stories of these men and women, and I think that they should be honored, there is a part of me that cringes at this sort of thing in church. Let me say, I love my country, and I am eternally grateful for the sacrifice that our military men and women have made to make America a safe place to live. The problem that I have is that these stories become sermons of nationalism and American patriotism rather than stories of honor. I'm all for honoring these brave people. However, when patriotism and the church come together, the message of Jesus often gets drowned out. Patriotism has the tendency to take the place of the Gospel. I promise more amens are given during a patriotic service, especially in the South, than a sermon on loving one's enemy. Yes, most of the people who founded our nation were Christians, and most were influenced by Judeo-Christian ethics. However, if you read the Declaration of Independence, the god of that document is a creator god. The God in which Christians serve is a God of redemption. God redeemed the world not by force, but by sending his son to die. Jesus did not lead a violent revolution, he only had two swords. But Jesus and the church that followed did not conform to the society around them, which was all about Roman power. I think their goal was to try to model what God has done in their lives and transform culture. So what do we do with national days like Veteran's Day? I think we honor those who served, but be careful about the language about America getting away from God. Our job as Christians is not to conform to patriotism, but rather transform the world through the love of the Triune God.

A Child's Love

2007-10-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't been on here in a while. Life has been really good since moving back to Waco full time. I really like it here (of course certain people help out with that). Class has been incredibly busy. I think Truett has stepped it up a notch this year with the work. Today I am headed to Arkansas to see Ryan Blackwell get ordained this weekend. I am looking forward to seeing him and Joel and Bode. I don't have time to post any original thoughts, but here is something nice I found on Ben Witherington III's blog (he's a New Testament scholar):

Love-- as Defined by Children

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."

Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."

Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"

Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."

Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."

Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."

Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."

Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."

Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)

Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."

Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8

I think we can learn from these kids! No wonder Jesus said whoever enters the Kingdom of Heaven must enter it like a child.

Holy Ground: The Helpless

2007-07-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

This summer I have had the privilege to preach the Sunday night worship service at our church. I had never preached through a whole book before and so after dad and I talked about it, I picked the book of James. Little did I know how much impact it would have on me, and how much of it I would see being played out in Africa. A couple weeks ago, I preached on James 1:27, which says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Two things exegetically about the passage. The word for religion is misleading because of the negative way we use religion. The word could and maybe should be translated "worship." So pure worship is to take care of the orphans and widows. The picture there is the most helpless in society. One of the applications you can make is that an unborn baby is the most helpless in our society, which I agree with. But you cannot stop there. There are many in our country who are helpless and need the whole gospel. I had read this passage many, many times and it never hit me though until I visited Africa. There were two ladies over there named Hellena and Leonora who work for an organization called WOFAK, which I've talked about in a previous post. They run a place for orphans and kids whose parents are bedridden with HIV/AIDS to come and get a meal. Because of the stigmatism that goes along with the disease, many of these kids sneak in through the ally way to get their meal so that no one would see them. One of the women, Leonora, has actually adopted and taken in eight of the orphans to be her own. Everyday they face and work with orphans, widows, those who are so sick they cannot even get out of bed. Hellena says that sometimes she even curses God for what she sees. But then they will see a smile from a boy or girl who has been hungry, or for the first time in months, an HIV victim get out of bed and go to work. Then Hellena says, she can do nothing but praise God because of the hope that is there. That is worship, that is religion that is worth something!

Holy Ground and HIV

2007-06-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

It's amazing where you become aware of the presence of God. Jacob had a dream in the middle of no-where, and when he woke up he said that God is in this place, and I did not know it. Never in a million years would I think I would be aware of God's presence in the places God made himself known in Kenya. One place I was made aware was an HIV testing room at Beacon of Hope. Beacon of Hope is a holistic ministry center designed to empower women who are HIV positive. They provide nutritional guidance, a school for their kids, classes to learn a skill in order to survive, Bible studies, and support groups. It really is an incredible place. They also provide medical attention for these ladies (and a few men). One of the services they provide is HIV testing. Our whole team was tested for HIV (so was Barak Obama. In fact there is a poster over there that reads Barak Obama knows his status, do you? That's just awesome). The man who did most of our testing, and who did mine, was named Jacob. Jacob is 26 and grew up in Kibera slum. I came in, and he greeted me. We talked about what HIV is and isn't, and also how you can get it and cannot. We talked about my own sex life, and I told him that I am saving myself for marriage. He taught me the "Neema chill" with the peace sign, which is an abstinence movement in Kenya, and then took my blood. It takes about 30 minutes to show the results, so we sat there and talked for 30 minutes. Jacob is probably the most dynamic Christian I have ever met. He grew up in extreme poverty and the problems that come with poverty. HIV/AIDS, drugs, alcohol abuse, and crime were and still are rampant in the area he grew up in. When Jacob was 15, a friend of his led him to Christ, and it dramatically changed his life. Jacob said for the first time he had hope for a better life, that life was worth living. The problems did not stop after receiving Christ for Jacob. He told me that he's had a brother and sister, and 15 other friends die from HIV/AIDS. Through these experiences Jacob told me that God revealed to him that he had to help out some how. He didn't have the grades or money to get into medical school, but got certified to administer HIV tests. He told me that everyone who comes into that room, he prays for, and has seen 100's of people come to Christ as a result of him sharing during that 30 minute time period it takes to get the results. As I'm sitting there, in a room no bigger than most people's bathrooms, I realized God is in that room, and I, I did not know it.

Holy Ground 2

2007-06-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the time between my last post and this one. Life has been crazy since I've been back, and I have not really had much time to just sit and write. My Kenya experience opened my eyes to where God is working in the world. There are some people whose situations in life when viewed from the outside appear to be a hell on earth. (I do believe in hell as being eternal separation from God, but I also believe that there are places on earth where people live in a hell so to speak. Ludacris actually has a good song about this called Runaway Love). One woman I actually did not get to meet, but some teammates of mine did. Her name is Lucy. Lucy is an HIV/AIDS victim who is getting helped out by an organization called WOFAK (Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya). Lucy has three kids, all of them school age. She has been bed-ridden for the past four months now. Three months ago her husband was killed after getting hit by a train coming home from work. He was her only provider as she is too weak to really get out of bed, much less work. She is now three months behind on rent in an apartment not much bigger than an Tahoe or Escalade, and she is about to be evicted from her apartment. If anybody has a bone to pick with God, it's Lucy. To an outsider, she is living hell on earth. My friends went into this apartment not knowing exactly what to expect after hearing some of her story on the walk to her apartment. As they walked in they found Lucy reading her Bible. She said to them, "This (the Bible) is my bread. This is what satisfies me." She told them that God wasn't through with her yet. In that room, my friends experienced holy ground. When they told the rest of us the story that night, there was a silence in the room. We all knew somehow that God, in the midst of this hell, had somehow exalted Lucy to a place where she finds satisfaction. No wonder James writes, "Let the poor Christian boast in their exaltation."

Holy Ground 1

2007-06-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

Growing up in church you hear all the rules about how to act at church: don't run, don't wear your hat, don't wear shorts (at least in my family), no jeans on Sunday morning, no sandals (even though I still argue that's what Jesus wore), and other rules. After all church (the building) is the "House of the Lord," and you would not want to desecrate "Holy Ground." When I was a youth minister in Oklahoma, I had some of the poorest kids in the country in my youth group. I would always get in trouble for what they were wearing, what they broke, how fast they were moving. And why? Because it is the House of God, holy ground. There's a lot of people that feel that way. At the church where I serve right now, we are going through VBS and a couple of kids were running down an aisle, and got chewed out for doing so. Again, Holy ground, the House of God. But what really is Holy Ground? I understand wanting to keep a building looking good, and I'm all for that. However, I do think we ought to rethink using the House of God, Holy Ground argument. I got back from Kenya a week ago. I was there for 2 weeks, and they were the most enjoyable two weeks of my life. It wasn't anything that I did. It was because for the first time in my life, I was on Holy Ground. I'm not saying Kenya itself is Holy, it is as fallen as any other place. But God is definitely at work there in places that you do not expect. In fact, Holy Ground in the Bible is found in unexpected places as well. Take for instance the story of Moses. Here is a man who grew up in the privileged house of Pharaoh. He saw one of his own people get murdered so he took revenge and hid the victim in the sand. Moses then flees to the backwoods, and for forty years hides out there in his father-in-law's house. Then out of no where, in the middle of no where, as the Hebrew reads behind the dessert (you can't be anymore backwoods than that) YHWH appears to Moses in a burning bush that does not burn. And what does God say about that place in the middle of no where behind the dessert, "The place where you are standing is Holy Ground." It wasn't a grand temple, or a wealthy city, it was a bush in the middle of nowhere that God declared Holy Ground. In another story, Jacob was fleeing his brother Esau. The Genesis account then says Jacob rested his head in a "certain place." In other words, in the middle of nowhere. But it was there in that certain place that Jacob had a dream of a ladder going up to heaven, and God made a promise to Jacob. When Jacob woke up, he said, "God is in this place, and I did not know it." In a certain place and in a burning bush behind the dessert, God revealed himself to these two pillars of faith, and changed the course of not only their lives, but the course of the history of God's people. In Kenya, I got a glimpse of this, and my next few posts will tell the stories of where and how God is working in unexpected places.

Prayer

2007-05-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

My last post was rather negative toward Baptists and public schools. Let me say that it is not the majority of Baptists who believe that way, but many in leadership do feel that way. That's what scares me. What also scares me is that most people in the pew do not know that is going on. Just on my own experience within churches, I would guess that 5-10% of the congregation is made up of public school leaders: whether they be teachers, coaches, janitors, principles, or administrators of some kind. I commend you and your willingness to be a Christian in the public schools.

I also did not want to leave for Africa on a negative post. I am asking for your prayers for the 100 people from Waco who are going over there. We will be visiting different orphanages and visiting those who are suffering from AIDS. Pray for us that God may open our hearts to the oppressed, and that we may join God at His work among them. I leave you now with a prayer by an unknown source that is dear to my heart:

"Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen."

Public Schools

2007-05-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

This summer the SBC in San Antonio will vote on a resolution to start an "exodus" from the public schools in America. The sponsor of the resolution, Vodi Baucham, whom I like, reasons, "If the SBC and American Christianity are to survive in any culturally relevant way, we are going to have to repent of our unfaithfulness in the education of our children." Is he serious? The President of Southern Seminary, Al Mohler, has been on record as saying that Southern Baptists need an "exit strategy" to get out of public schools. The resolution itself says that our school system an "anti-Christian government school system." This makes me absolutely sick, but not surprised. Before I get into this very much, let me say that one of my best friends growing up, Philip Childree, was homeschooled. Also, two of my best friends in college, Ryan and Bode, were educated at Shiloh Christian School (go Saints) in Arkansas. I myself attended OBU, a private university. I have no problem if a parent wants to homeschool or perhaps if the public schools education is not up to par, sending their kids to private be it Christian or other. However, what kind of message does planning an exit strategy from the public schools send to our society? Yes, I agree that parents have a responsibility to help educate and disciple their kids. But this to me, says that we have all the answers, you have nothing to say to us, and we are just going to let you go to hell. Invoking the language of an exodus? What are our Christian kids enslaved to? Algebra 1? US History? And then the kicker for me, "remaining culturally relevant." How do we remain "culturally relevant" when we are not willing to engage culture? Are we worried that our perfect, Christian kids will be infected with sin? Oh wait, they already are. Are we worried that sinners might find Jesus with our kids effecting the school from the inside? Hmmm. There was another group who stayed away from sinners, Pharisees. What was their punishment? Oh yeah, the fires of hell.

Just Checking In

2007-05-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have last posted. I have much to say about a lot of things, but not enough time. This week is finals week for me and I have a lot to do. In about a week and a half I am going to Kenya to work at an AIDS orphanage for two weeks. It promises to be a life changing experience for my team and I. Please pray for us as we travel and are over there doing ministry. I leave you now with a prayer by an unknown author:

Almighty and ever-living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen
Peace be with you all.

Prayer

2007-04-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Please be in prayer for some family friends of mine. I played high school basketball with two brothers, the Bailey twins. They were involved in an unfortunate situation last week, with Jonathan going to be with the Lord. Also, be in prayer for all those involved with the altercation, as things are about to get nasty. God, grant us the strength to forgive when we can't, and the ability to accept your grace when we don't have it. Thank you.

The Bible in a Bar

2007-03-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this article the other day and thought that it was a cool idea. It's interesting that this is a Southern Baptist Church in Missouri. It is a great example of bringing the gospel into the world rather than the world coming to us. It's not for everybody, but read it and let me know what you all think.

Bible and Beer

I need to be Studying . . .

2007-03-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

I really should be studying right now, but I have not updated in a while, so I thought I would. There are a lot of things that have happened in my life since my last blog. The best change of course is Lindsey. There have been a lot of things that I have wanted to blog about, but I have not taken the time to do so. For instance, I got to go to Rob Bell's church, Mars Hill, for a pastor's conference. It was incredible. I will get back to blogging, I promise. However, just for a teaser, I will leave you with an article to think about. Christians are just so smart . . .
Jerry Falwell

Rick Warren and AIDS

2006-12-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

This post is about two weeks too late, but I thought I would write it anyway. A couple of weeks ago Rick Warren held an AIDS summit at his church in California. He invited a wide variety of guest speakers including U2 leadsinger Bono (that's for you Dr. Kelly). His most "controversial" speaker was Senator Barak Obama. Senator Obama is a Democrat who is pro-choice. He also believes in helping out the AIDS crisis. Many right-wing conservatives blasted Pastor Warren for inviting Sen. Obama to the summit. In a letter signed by 18 conservative religious leaders, including many Southern Baptists, Warren was condemned for having Obama. The letter said, "If Senator Obama cannot defend the most helpless citizens in our country, he has nothing to say about the AIDS crisis." You can read more of the letter here ABP Article.

What a statement to make! What have conservative evangelicals done for the AIDS crisis besides blame it on homosexuals (mind you I'm a conservative evangelical)? Why should we have to agree on everything to work together? I'm reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The people who were supposed to have compassion upon the robbed and beaten man did not. The Samaritan man, who was hated by the Jews in Jesus day, was the one who had compassion. It is time to put aside demonizing each other, and start working together to help solve some of the world's issues such as poverty and AIDS. I like what Pastor Warren said at his conference, "Today you have heard Compassionate Conservatism and Compassionate Liberalism. The thing they had in common was compassion." Well put Pastor Warren.

This Week in God on Left Behind video game

2006-12-01T09:32:00.001-08:00

Christians and video games? Check this out!

Sermons

2006-11-27T21:35:00.000-08:00

If some of you out there have some time, you can listen to a few of my recent sermons here:

NEBC SERMON

Enjoy (hopefully)!

Competitive

2006-11-12T22:08:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying that I am a competitive person. I hate to lose. The other day I was playing basketball in Waco as I often do on Fridays. This particular week was not a good one for me on the court. My shot wasn't falling, and worse my teams kept losing. But I, being the competitive person that I am, did not leave until I won a game. It took over two hours, but finally a team I played on won a game. It's a sick thing, this addiction to winning. Often my mood on Saturdays is determined by the outcome of the OU football game. Our society has placed winning on a pedestal. For instance, look at our national basketball team. They have finished third in the world the past two years at the Olympics, and then this year at the World Championships. Yet we blast them for not winning. As a nation we take great pride in never losing a war (although in the War of 1812 the White House was burned down). This air of competition has swept in the church in America as well. I remember growing up comparing our church to other churches around the area. I found myself comparing our youth groups to other's youth groups (even though most of the time I had never even visited the other churches). We have become competitive in our numbers, as we have allowed them to determine success. (To refute my own argument, I believe in the church and the life-changing message that the church brings through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, so I want as many people there to experience that life change). Church, however, is not about competition. Look at the story of the rich man and Lazarus. What was the rich man's problem? It seems to me that the Rich Man thought he was better than Lazarus. Basically he was a winner, and Lazarus, a loser. The rich man was too good to even give Lazarus crumbs. Even in death the rich man thought he was better than Lazarus! Notice he asks Lazarus to serve him by dipping his finger in water to cool the rich man's tongue. Then he asks Lazarus to go tell his family! How arrogant is this guy? How arrogant are we? The rich man thought he had things figured out. He was a winner, he had success. But he neglected his fellow man, and considered the needy man outside his house a loser. And where did his competition land him? In the same Gospel of Luke, Jesus is shown as getting baptized in a line with everybody else, rich and poor. Jesus did not regard others as winners and losers. Lord, help us to do the same.

2006-10-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all who have prayed for my family the past two weeks or so. My Grandmother went to be with the Lord last Wednesday morning. Her funeral service was well done by her pastor. She would have been pleased. Thank you once again.

On a different note, congradulations Jon Bodenstein on his engagement. You're crazy man!

2006-10-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was watching tv I saw something that really impacted my life. I was flipping through and turned it onto MTV. I know, I know, MTV and life impacting? Pimp my Ride didn't speak to me, nor Sweet 16. MTV was showing a "Diary of the Clinton Foundation." It chronicled Bill Clinton's and another man's experience in Rwanda, trying to raise awareness for the genocide going on in the Darfur region. It was meant mainly for the awefulness of genocide, and it showed how people's lives were affected. But what struck me was the extreme, extreme poverty that these people lived in. For instance, in one hospital there were only 60 beds with over 1000 people that needed hospital treatment. At the same hospital there was no running water, so they could not wash there hands after surgery, or even clean the building. It broke my heart. Often as Christians we seem to only care about saving people from hell, but we need to wake up to the fact that there are people living in hell on earth right now (I recomend going to Rob Bell's website and listening to his sermon on hell). As Christians I believe our job is to bring the Kingdom of God to people who have no hope right now! The MTV show called for political action from the UN. Well, that's good and all, but I do not believe that the UN will do anything. I believe that the solution is Christians working together in an ecumenical movement to bring the Kingdom where it has not been reached. The Kingdom of God is more than just fire insurance, and more than just a relief agency. Rick Warren is attempting to do this, and I applaud him, and hopefully will get to join the cause.

On a personal note, please pray for my Dad as he travels to Oklahoma, and my Grandma as she faces heart surgery tomorrow.

2006-09-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

Seperation of Church and state? Check out this article on BP and tell me what you think:

BP Article

2006-09-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

This past week was a pretty life-impacting week for me. I was reminded of feelings that I had for one of my friends a couple years ago, as I found out that one of my fellow Truett student's dad had died. Please pray for Lloyd and his family.

We also had a great chapel service this past week that really spoke to my heart. Our speaker, Dr. Sharyn Dowd (yes a woman for all you who care about such things) spoke about loving God with our minds. When asked the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted the Deut. 6 passage which talks about loving God with your whole person. Jesus even adds mind to the Deut. passage. Though I realize that the heart, being, and strength is in reference to the whole person, I think that Jesus did add the mind for a reason. God gave us a mind, and He expects us to use it. This does not mean however that we become so intellectual that we neglect our service and devotion to Christ. However it does mean when confronted with new ideas that we allow ourselves to open up and explore the idea. It's not like God hasn't heard it before, so I really don't think he minds if you allow strange, perhaps even unorthodox thoughts to enter your mind.

2006-08-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

The Emergent church's language is full of building community. I like that. I like being apart of a community, and feeling welcomed by a group. I also feel that my church does a good job of that in Beaumont. My concern is however that through this language of building a community is that we have lost an individualistic spirit. Now some of you out there would say, "Ray church is a community." Yes, but the community ought to be made up of individuals who have different characteristics and opinions. I do believe that in the essentials, we ought to be unified. However, with non-essentials I think there is beauty within diversity. Because even though we may disagree over a particular issue, say speaking in tongues, we serve the same God, and it is beautiful when people worship together and get along in community despite individual opinions. In Baptist life we have lost this. Historically, Baptist churches have been autonomous, and supposedly they still are. Now it seems that if you do not agree with me on a specific issues, there is no way we can even be in the same room without tension, much less worship together. However, we were all created in God's image. God also created us different from everybody else. God created us to be diverse, and to have different outlooks on life. God created us to be individuals. That is why it is an individual's decision to come to Christ, and not a family's. Family has an important role, but ultimately it is up to the individual to make the decision to come to Christ. As Baptists, as Christians, we ought to welcome individualism, and realize that we are all in it together. That is community.

2006-08-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, Joel Olsteen got blasted by many of my Baptist friends by saying that he didn't know if non-Christians in India who he saw "the hand of God" upon were automatically condemned to hell because they did not know Jesus. After getting blasted, he apologized and said he absolutely believes that Jesus is the way to salvation, as do I. However, sometimes I wonder, and last night I was confronted with it, is there a difference between someone who has been saved and someone who is a Christian? For instance, for someone to be a Christian I believe there are certain dogmas one must hold, such as the ressurection. My question is, can someone who does not believe perhaps in the bodily ressurection of Jesus be saved? Albert Schweitzer is one example that comes to mind. Here is a man who has poor Christology I believe. But he gave his life to the teachings of Jesus, and judging by his life, it seems that he loved Jesus. I know I am treading on dangerous territory, almost heretical it seems. But my point is that God is a gracious and merciful God. Our job is to be Christians, and to spread that salvation is through Jesus. God's job is to save people, and for us to condemn somebody to hell, well, I think we tread on God's territory. What do you all think?

2006-08-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

Moving

I have decided I hate moving. I'm excited for the change, but I hate moving. Setting up takes time, effort, and money that I don't have. Also, as of right now, I don't know that many people, and none of my neighbors have been out to talk to. Change is hard, but good at the same time. Today I was putting things on my wall and for some reason began to think about Abram. Abram was a successful man before God called him. His friends and family were there, and I'm sure it was a comfortable life. But God called him to move out of the country he had grown up in into a land which God would show him. Abram didn't even know where he was going to go! At least I know that for the next few years. Although Abram made some mistakes, he followed God and God took care of him. I can only hope for the same thing for myself.

2006-08-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

If you ever want to start a huge argument among Christians bust out the whole Calvinism vs. Armenianism debate. The thing I do not like about the debate is that both sides read the Bible through a system, and do not read the Bible for what it says. We always want to put systems or creeds in order to understand scripture, and I'm fine with that. However, many times the creed or system becomes the only way for a person to read the Bible. If you do not read a certain scripture a certain way, then you get lumped into a different group, an enemy if you will. For instance, if you do not read the Bible through a Calvinist's system, then you must be an Armenian, or vis versa. I just have a hard time believing it to be true. The fact is that there is evidence for both Calvinism and Armenianism in the Bible. As Dr. Mullins said "It's both." Maybe we should stop limiting God to a certain system, and start realizing that God is bigger than any system that humans can come up with.

2006-08-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I was determined that I would not write anything out of anger. But only a month into the blog, I am going to break that. Today I read an article about a ruling of US District Judge Robert Pratt. He ruled a Christian program called the InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Iowa unconstitutional because it violates church and state. If he would have left it at that, it would not have been a big deal. This program, which has been very successful, is an evangelical effort to help prisoners rehabilitate and gets money from the Faith-based initiatives. What Judge Pratt did that greatly overstepped his bounds was define evangelicalism in a twelve page opinion. He found that Evangelical Christianity to be "anti-sacrimental which downplays baptism, holy communion, marriage and ordination." Evangelicals are also "comtemptuous of Roman Catholic practices." I'm all for seperation of church and state. Whenever the church gets into bed with the government, the church gets raped. However, what this man did was as a judge define Evangelicalism as a narrow, mean-spirited minority. He also took a step toward a court defining what is and what is not legitiment theology. Seperation of church and state was really created to protect the church from government. Why then in this ruling, supposedly upholding church and state, did a government appointed judge define evangelicalism? That is over the boundary that the government is supposed to abide by because it could then be applied to any church-related program that does good in society. I hope this decision gets thrown out in appeals court.

2006-07-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

If you know me well, then you know that one of my heroes is Martin Luther King Jr. I am facinated by the civil rights movement under his leadership. He took the teachings of Christ and helped change the fortunes of African Americans living in the south. He did it by loving his enemy even when his enemy jailed and beat on him and his followers. Growing up hearing about Dr. King, I always placed him on this huge pedastal, like God was speaking directly to him and he was just carrying out the plan. In reading about him though, Dr. King was human. He made mistakes and at times got depressed. Before he died, and the riots of '68 were happening, he fell into a great depression. The voting rights act and the civil rights acts had been signed, and he really did not know where to go from there. Within the African American community, he had been losing influence to the Black Power movement. But then, according to Jesse Jackson, he would preach himself out of depression. He realized something. He realized that he could not do things on his own. He said in one of his last speeches "And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured." What he said was that we all have struggles, we all have sins, and what we do affects the world around us. But together we must press on together to overcome our struggles.

2006-07-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

I am such a hypocrit. I have a confession to make. I do not have any problems with women being pastors. I really don't. I'm fully aware of the I Timothy passage, and the argument that since men are supposed to be the head of the household, then they are supposed to head the church as well. Both I think don't take into consideration the culture of the day. However, in Acts all the gifts of the spirit are given out to both the sons and daughters of God, including preaching or prophecy. Knowing this though, and even believing it, a woman still has to be twice as good as a man for me to listen to her, or take her seriously. There are women out there who do that, such as my mother. She gets our congregation focused every Sunday morning and she's incredible. Though she would never say so, my mother is the best speaker in my family (and the best Christian as well). There are very few women like my mother (and I realize I'm biased). So to all you women out there, I'm all for you in any kind of role in ministry, but I just can't listen to you. What a hypocrit!

2006-07-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

We throw the word "faith" around. We say we are a people of faith, or we live by faith. What does it truly mean to live by faith? Is it just believing or saying you believe in something? I'm all about seeing people receive Christ and getting baptized. I love it when that happens, but I always wonder in the back of my mind "Is it real, or is it fire insurance?" (to quote Dr. Mullins). In the Luke 7:36-50 passage, Jesus tells the sinful woman that her faith has saved her, and for her to go in peace. What was her faith? Was it the tears she cried, the perfume she brought, or was it something else? I think when Jesus referred to her faith, it was the response she gave to who Jesus was. Simon the Pharisee and his friends had heard the same message about Jesus, had probably seen him do the miracles written about in chapter 7, but they did not respond. This sinful woman however, saw the miracles, heard Jesus claim about himself and responded with tears. Because of this response Jesus said "Go in peace." She was a changed woman. Faith then, according to this story, is a response to God. Because of her willingness to respond to God, Jesus forgave her sins and gave her a life of peace, something that the pharisee's interpretation of religion could never give.

2006-07-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a book that all Christian American's should read. It is American Gospel by Jon Meacham. Meacham explores the use of religion and its effect upon the political situation throughout American history. Our Founding Fathers, while not all Christians, all had a sense of America being guided by a Divine Force. Therefore the author argues "Given that a large majority do believe in a transcendent power, and given that the evocations of a transcendent power grew organically from the habits and hearts of the early Americans, it would be as unsound to ban the use of the word God from all public life as it would be to require every American to attend church services every Sunday." Finally somebody has realized that there are a lot of shades of grey. The problem I have with both extreme liberals and the religious right is that there is no room in the middle. Our Founding Fathers on the other hand understood the importance of balance between the political and religion. They did not disregard religion by becoming a secular government, but allowed it to flourish and to not become corrupt by staying out of religion. At the same time, they understood that this country needs religion in order for this country to maintain a sense of purpose. I am grateful for the stands our Founding Fathers took on the Freedom of Religion.

2006-07-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Since blogging is the new sensation in America today I thought I would get involved as well. Bloggers have effected the outcomes in political races both in the government and more recently in the Southern Baptist Convention. Some of you may be wondering what politia basileias means. It is Greek (if you know me that is no surprise) and it means "Citizen of the Kingdom." This summer I have been doing sermon research for my dad in Beaumont, TX for an upcoming series on Kingdom Living. In studying for these sermons, I have become convicted that I need to "Seek first the Kingdom of God," hince the name. It is my prayer that we all will experience the reign of God in our lives.

eirene ek (peace out),
Ray