WOW

You all may well know that I'm not a huge basketball fan, but you all have to check this out, unbelievable: Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams Come True
(click on the blue video link in the story.)

"A Man, The Man"

"I ended my first book with the words 'no answer'. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against other words. Long did I hate you, long did I fear you. I might - "



Before I comment on the excerpt above, I want to persuade any of you who haven't yet read C. S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces to do so. I just finished reading it this morning, for the fourth time, and I am beginning to find that I can't go much longer than a year anymore before I am forced to pick it up and read it again. Lewis has such a gift for creating his own worlds (fantasies) in his writings that are intertwined into what we naturally assume to be reality, that we become hard pressed not to become anxious about simply walking out our doors after we have finished reading him. It is like watching a dark malt extract syrup being slowly poured into a pot of boiling water when creating a wort, and the extract swirls in the water, darker, thicker, richer; but as it continues to swirl the distinctions between water and extract begin to disappear and soon you are mixing a dark brown liquid that gives off a sweet, nutty aroma setting off a chain reaction in your stomach and mind, and the excitement builds in anticipation because we know in the end what blessing will come from the mixture that continues to swirl in the pot.

I believe there are things Lewis has seen about our God more clearly than most of us, and therefore, truly has a way of writing the fantastic and unbelievable into a tangible form without putting the fantasy at risk; indeed, I believe it makes it all the more exciting!

Now re-read that passage at the beginning of the post. This is the last paragraph written in the novel. Queen Orual has grown up filtering life through a worldview that is influenced by Greek philosophy and a "barbarian" religious culture. She knows the arguments of Plato and Socrates, and she has been raised in a culture that has created a piest, holy, and law-abiding fear for the religion of the land. In the end, the gods bring her to understand that life is not understood through great knowledge or through a system of sacrifices and religious ceremonies, but it is understood through the Lord. In a Man, the answers are found.

When Charlie was last here, he asked me, "What did Christ mean when He said that He came to fulfill all the Law and the Prophets?" What Charlie was driving at was a need to understand the Gospels better than we do (Which will also demand a need to understand the stories of the Old Testament better too). Christ did not come to begin another Law or to start a new Law, He did not come to bring more prophecy or even to fulfill a prophecy . . . but He came to fulfill all that is written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and Psalms. This fulfilling can only be done in the form of a Man, who comes to play the roles where all the priests, kings, mediators, prophets, warriors, and husbands of Israel had failed in the Old Testament. It must be done this way because our God is a relational God, He is covenantal God.

As we are sanctified, we are not becoming conformed to the Ten Commandments, we are not being conformed to a set of theological standards, nor even a list of godly characteristics; we are being conformed to a Man, a Man whose life took on many roles in order to achieve our salvation. Our sanctification is preparing us, as a body, not to be the perfect citizen of heaven, not to walk a line words have drawn in the sand, but to be a Bride, the Bride of the One Man, Jesus Christ.

Created In His Image

I have been reading some of James Jordan's book, Through New Eyes, which has begun to stimulate and mix with some other current thoughts of mine.

What does "being created in the image of God" mean for us? Now, I know this can be a loaded question, and I don't presume to tackle it in its entirety by any means, but I would like to talk about one application. Is it safe for us to say that if we are created in His image then we (or our lives, etc.) should reveal truths or characteristics of Him? If yes, then I wonder how well-rounded we are in doing this? What I mean is, do we tend to just pick the characteristics we like or that seem to fit us and leave out the rest or do we work to reveal all the truths about who our God is? Now, I am already assuming that you realize I am writing this in regards to a church body, and not to every individual Christian; but of course we all already realize that we function as a community more so than individuals, right!?

In an attempt to stimulate discussion, I'm not going to mention anything immediately and hope that whoever is out there will be willing to add their 2 cents on any characteristics of our God that we could be more faithful in "imaging". So, please, don't be afraid, let's hear what you have to say.

Here are some ideas to get you started . . .

Our God is like:
~ a Lion
~ a Tree of Life
~ a Rock
~ a Refuge
~ the Sun
~ a Fountain
~ a Shield
~ a Temple
~ an Eagle
~ a Dragon Slayer
~ a Lamb (one of my favorites to talk about)
~ a Mediator
~ a High Priest
~ a Judge
~ a Comforter

Worldview Quote:

In support of the true sovereignty of God, it is often said in Reformed churches that there is not a single atom in the universe that God does not have control over, or as Pastor Bryan Clark likes to put it: there is not a single "renegade atom" anywhere in the universe. But here is a quote I like that takes it the next step further:

"There is 'not one atom of the universe' in which His divinity does not shine forth."
- Herman Bavinck (19th Century Theologian)

Not only is every atom under His rule, but every atom declares something about His being!

The Lordship of Christ

I have read and heard a few things lately that have helped to kindle some of the following thoughts. Within the Reformed church we like to talk about Christ's rule and Lordship extending into every area of Creation, but I can think of at least a couple areas within our own families and churches where we seem to deny this . . . whether it is a willing denial or not I don't know for sure.

The first area is tithing. I don't know what the statistics have to say for the Reformed church in our country but if it is even remotely similar to the whole Christian church in this country we are indeed denying Christ's Lordship in this area. First, tithing is comparable to worship in that both are offerings we make to God, but we do not make them from our own account so to speak. The Lord gives us the Sabbath as a blessing, a day set apart at the beginning of the week dedicated to the Lord, but part of its purpose is to make the statement that we do this because everyday of the week belongs to the Lord. In the same way, we take the "first fruits" from our bounty, the "10% right off the top" as our offering dedicated to the Lord each week, but for the purpose of recognizing and stating that all of our money, gifts, and profits belong to the Lord.

There are a couple ways I think we error on this issue. First, we fail to give the 10 percent God has commanded us to give (and I do think this command still stands up this side of Christ), we are disobedient, and we thus fail to recognize that it is Christ who is Lord over our finances. Second we give exceedingly more than 10 percent (which I am not against), but we then tell ourselves how generous we have been or we may get to the point where we feel that the church depends on that extra amount from us. This too, I believe, denies the Lordship of Christ in our finances. It's pretty hard to give to someone what he already has claimed as his own, and I'm not sure how someone who already owns literally everything could ever be dependent on anyone.

The second area is children. I want to start first with infant baptism, but I am only applying this to those who are already convinced that infant baptism can be biblical and obedient. Infant baptism, as circumcision, is based on the idea of a covenant. I want to define a covenant for this purpose as a relationship between God (someone greater) and His people (someone lesser) that is instituted and defined by the greater for the sake of the lesser and their relationship together. God's covenant people baptize their babies because God has commanded them too, in order to acknowledge the covenantal succession that God has defined and promised in the covenant He has made with them.

What we believe about infant baptism requires us to stand on the promises of God we have in His covenant. We rely on God's grace and faithfulness for the sure salvation and sanctification of our children. We rely on the Lordship of Christ in our children's lives and in the lives of our families growing together. When we fail to discipline our children, we deny His Lordship; when we fence our children from the Lord's Table, we deny His Lordship; when we fail to see the increased blessings in a larger faithful Christian family, we deny His Lordship; when we send our children to day care everyday, we deny His Lordship; when we send our children to a secular school system, we deny His Lordship.

I know some of that is going to come across as a little harsh, but I'm okay with that. We live in a culture that hates children, and the Christian church hasn't done much to convince it of anything different lately. If we want the abortion rates in our country to drop we need to start loving our own children first, and it wouldn't hurt to start having a few more children. If we want our children to grow up to be Christ-like we need to start showing them today how that is done by giving up our lives for our families on a daily basis.

I think I am safe to say that the American culture has the idea that our lives are our own, and if we don't carefully manage our children and the number we have, we will be in danger of losing that until we can send them to college and really get our lives back. I think we know enough Scripture to realize that our lives are never our own whether we are slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness, Christians or non-Christians; so the Church is given the opportunity to teach the world something about Jesus Christ through families, by showing that starting a family or having children is about death and resurrection . . . about dying to self, and finding new life not as an individual but as a family.

Slacker!

Okay, I just now realized that over two weeks have gone by since I posted last. I did a little traveling, hosted some travelers, and have had a few exciting moments in the last couple weeks. So maybe I will follow up with a short post on what has been going on for anyone who might be interested, and to help ease my guilty conscience.

Last weekend I traveled to Billings to watch the State Wrestling Tournament with my parents. It's been awhile since the last time I was there, and so I didn't really know anyone who was wrestling, but I did get to see quite a few old, familiar faces that were there to watch as well. I still believe even more strongly today that wrestling is one of the best sports for young men.

Sunday night, Charlie drove in from Spokane and spent a couple of days with me. It was good to spend some time talking, eating, drinking, and smoking with him. We even went out to Petra and sat in on one of Sam's English classes (first time for me).

Monday night (while Charlie is still in town), I get a call from a college friend (Ronnie Isackson) who also was going to be in town and wanted to know if he could crash at my place for the night. Ronnie then had three interviews the following day with three of the engineering firms in town, including the one I work for. He also promptly received a job offer from my firm, which I hope I will soon hear he is taking.

I also got a little practice babysitting Tuesday night for the Clarks while they went out for the romantic holiday. The night went really well, and it honestly was a relaxing break to go hang out with kids for a few hours . . . and looking after four kids was a piece of cake, I don't know what all the fuss is about . . . although, they are all very well-behaved, but still. I also get to spend the evening watching Tjabe Koenen tonight while his father drives through the dark looking and listening for owls.

One last thing, for any of you I haven't told, our next voice recital is scheduled for April 1st; I am beginning to feel confident enough about it to publicize that.