This isn't just a blog about life issues... I promise. But read this:

So, while I do believe that bringing God into the equation of life is critical--it really is refreshing when someone who claims to not believe in God at all will de-politicize an issue and make a solid, morally based argument:

A pro-life atheist tells why the tides might be turning

I believe that drawing an arbitrary line in the sand determining when life starts or doesn't start in the womb is ludicrous. Life starts at conception. Ending life after that is the same 2 weeks after conception, 2 months after conception, or 2 years after conception. But even if you might disagree with my claims there, you might want to tread lightly just in case I might be right.

So, I don't really think there should be a question here. But let's say you have questions and you believe that one person's privacy is able to cover up another person's right to life--what if you are wrong? 

If I am wrong (and we stopped all abortions now) then the worst case scenario is more life. If you are wrong (even a little bit) then there are thousands and thousands and millions of deaths on your hands...

Couldn't have said it better myself:

"If you oppose selective abortions, but not abortion overall, I wonder why? How is terminating the fetus because it's the wrong sex any worse than terminating the fetus for convenience's sake? The fate of the fetus does not change, only the reasoning for its extinction does."

Hmmm... Thank you Denver Post reporter guy for this article.

Why is anyone worth anything?

CLICK HERE

I appreciate this post because the author is right on in not making his own argument, but in merely placing the facts right there on the table.

Can't argue with that (well, I guess some people would, but their arguments are based on fear, ignorance, and selfishly wanting to have their own way--no matter who gets in the way).

I know I don't have the ability to place, take, or otherwise move someone else's worth.

If you can't beat 'em...

Do you think we should join 'em?

Well, in one sense it can be a cop out. Take for example how all the major sports leagues, ticket agents, and concert venues have dealt with electronic scalpers: Rather than standing up for what was right, fighting price gouging, greedy ticket brokers, and allowing middle-class dads to take their sons to the ballgame for less than a month's salary--they have now become business partners and receive a portion of the proceeds... twice. And a $14 ticket to the game now costs $45 and climbing.

In another sense it might conjure up good sportsmanship. Take for example the loser of a political primary election. After spending months nitpicking at their opponents weaknesses, pointing out their flaws, claiming that they have no experience, etc. Then losing. And then joining forces to fight off a common enemy.

Well, neither one reeks of integrity. But we also don't want to just be sore losers.

Just some thoughts. Potential money and potential power often turn the best of people into the vilest of creatures. Or the vilest of creatures into even more vile creatures (is that possible)?

I'm glad God is in charge.

Guardian Angel

What do you think of when I write the term "Guardian Angel" up there?

-A puffly, winged creature hovering between you and oncoming traffic?

-A stranger who shows up at the exact right time, with the exact right something, only to never be heard from again?

-A prayer card with the etymology of your name on it?

While the notion of guardian angels is certainly very comforting, there isn't much biblical support backing up the claim that we each have a particular angel vigilante hovering in our midst (though there are a few passages that might suggest it: Hebrews 1:14, Psalm 91:11). 

Angels are God's creation, we need not forget that we serve an omniscient God whose Spirit is everywhere (John 3:5-8).

Guardian angels or not, God is the one in whom our trust belongs. Let's not forget it.

2 minutes

Perusing the Internet can waste a lot of time and can yield few results--or it can cause me to find this computer-generated reenactment of the US Airways plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River last month.

Basically, this pilot took everything he ever learned, all his thousands of hours of flight training, his years of experience and PERFECTLY EXECUTED this landing, without losing any cool (or lives), in less than 2 minutes.

I believe that humans (and men in particular) dream about this day of perfect execution. We dream about the perfect moment of trial, adversity, and certain doom--and rising above it. Perfectly.

Don't shrink back. Be someone who steps up to the plate.

³⁸But my righteous one will live by faith. 
   And if he shrinks back, 
      I will not be pleased with him.³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

(Hebrews 10:38-39, NIV)

Fiscal Responsibility Starts at Home

For the most telling chart on our current financial mess click HERE.

I find this most interesting primarily because I haven't seen it before.

Irresponsible buyers, greedy lenders, and a whole lot of money that never existed had caused people to think their homes were "worth" more than twice what they were actually worth. It's like my baseball card collection--just because a Barry Bonds rookie card is supposed to be worth $75, doesn't mean someone would actually shell out $75 for it.

So, the long and short of it is that since home buying and selling is such a big industry (real estate agents, lawyers, repair companies, lenders, etc.) and since most people couldn't get for their house what they paid for it, there's a lot of trouble... for anyone who bought a house in the last 5 years and wants to sell it in the next 5 years. 

If you bought yours before then or never want to move, and you can actually afford your mortgage (another problem all together)... then stop checking zillow so often.

Also, everyone should not own their own home... nor should everyone stay in the home they never should have bought in the first place. Save for a down-payment and rent please.

WD-40

I have a list of 5 tips on "Expanding a Household Brand" by a guy named Garry Ridge (he is President and CEO of WD-40) hanging above my desk.

Tip #5 goes like this: Invest in products that consumers will always need.

This makes good sense. And in order to understand what people will always need, we have got to understand what kinds of problems people will always have... and then, here's the key, we've got to invest in these products so that we can be a part of the solution

Problems people will always have (products they will always need to help with those problems):

-Squeaky hinges (WD-40)

-Sweet toothes (Twizzlers)

-Sore backs (hot pads, Icy Hot)

-Relational difficulty (books, seminars, teachings, classes to help)

-Desire to be a part of something greater than themselves (groups, churches, families)

You get the idea.

It is one thing to think of things like this in the context of good business. It's a whole other thing to think of what this might mean for our spiritual lives. What things will we always need? And what things are just extra/a fad/meaningless?

More later.

Bottom-up

So, a question was recently posed to me: How would you define top-down vs. bottom-up evangelization?

Bottom-up evangelization would probably look a whole lot like a relationship-building, disciple-making, friendship-type of Gospel sharing. A "watch how I live and see if it rings true with what I say" kind of life-sharing. The sharer has so intertwined lives with the hearer that the hearer can't deny some type of plausibility.

Top-down evangelization would probably look a whole lot like a large group of people at all levels of faith who hear the truth of the Gospel preached in their direction, and because of the sheer power of the redeeming message of Jesus Christ, people change. The sharer has no (or very little) personal interaction with the hearer, but because the right message, the right time, and the right heart all collided--truth is heard.

I don't think either is the only way. Nor do I think either could be wholly successful without the other... Christ taught to large crowds, Paul preached to the masses, the Apostles boldly shared the Word of God wherever they went. But the exponential evangelization came when disciples made disciples who made disciples.  

Jesus made fishers of men by having them follow Him.

Just some thoughts.

Kinda Makes Me Sick...

Children are not a "cost" to be rid of. Children are not a line item to delete once the irresponsible state governments get stuck in the red. Children rejuvenate cultures in downturns. Societies that act on what this woman (the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2nd in line to the Presidency) is saying, eventually die.

"Freedom has a scent, like the top of a newborn baby's head..." --'Miracle Drug'

A Big Day

The next 100 days should be interesting.

The fanatics will defend him with the old "you can't expect everything to change overnight" trick.

The critics will attack him with the old "you can't live up to your own hype, you're not God" trick.

They're both kinda right.

Pray for our President. He needs it.

Book Learning

Well, as I write this, I am preparing for the first class of my last semester in this round of graduate school. I will graduate in May, Lord-willing, with a Masters of the Arts in Ministry.

Now, I will surely write more about this whole thing later, but what I'd like to say now is that I have really been blessed by this whole fantastic experience.

Due to some scholarships, employee discounts, and generally affordable tuition, I think I can safely put the financial price-tag on this endeavor at about: $24,000-ish (tuition, books, fees...)

It seems cheap (both literally and figuratively) to put such a number on this education. So, this is the only time I will do it. And the only reason I do it now is because I am ashamed at how often I think of the price of pretty much everything (computers, deli meats, cars, Pringles, pants, plane tickets, and office chairs), and how unfair it would be to slap this number on that experience. I think I need to learn this lesson for everything else too. 

Spread out over 4 years, I was at once a part-time worker and a full-time student, and now I find myself with those roles reversed, but still intent on finishing the degree (albeit a different one than when I started). And it was worth every nickel and every second.

Today I had the privilege of sharing with a group of first-time grad students what a joy studying God's word for the last four years has been.

And it still is.

The President Reads Lots of Books

I came across this article a couple weeks ago.

Basically, it outlines a competition between two old friends and their desire to gain knowledge, insight, and different perspectives through the reading of good ol' fashioned books. The reason why it is in the Wall Street Journal is because one of those old friends happens to be the President of the United States.

I mean, even though he loses the competition every year, the fact that he reads almost 2 books/week on history, notable people, current events, and even sports, all while being President shows grit and determination.

Books are a worthwhile endeavor.

And he reads the Bible cover-to-cover every year. 

January First

A new year brings about all kinds of emotions. Emotions of a year gone by (fond memories or good riddance)? Emotions of a year ahead (Trepidation or excitement)?

This is a time for a new chances, new beginnings, new horizons, and being resolute. I have made a list of things to do this coming year, it is a tangible list and it can (and hopefully will be) checked off. Here are my ten categories (I have made a specific goal for each one):

1. Scripture intake

2. Debt management

3. Physical health

4. Creative output

5. Nature enjoyment

6. Fun reading

7. Money saving

8. Furthering education

9. Job performance

10. World traveling

Make one in each of these categories for yourself. Or make up your own categories.

Don't let another year go by without doing something awesome.

A Christian Coffee House?

It seems to me that any business or establishment that identifies itself as having the primary purpose of bubbling Christians off from non-Christians is basically ridiculous.

Solid fellowship is one thing, but purposeful removal from the 'world' of our neighbors, co-workers, and friends is antithetical to the basic message of the Great Commission. I am not the first one to throw stones here, as it is obviously more comfortable to stick only with people who look like me, act like me, believe like me, and the like... but what a narrow-minded, sad view of how to live life.

God created us all as unique with unique talents and giftings, and we also struggle and sin in our own ways too. And as Christians it is the penultimate selfishness to cordon ourselves off into comfort. There's plenty of time for comfort and security in in eternity. I write these things as a challenge to myself.

A 'Christian' establishment should be the most welcoming, inclusive, loving environment on the planet... not condoning sin patterns and behaviors, but relating to people and living a God-honoring life alongside them so as to allow them to see what it means to know Christ.

Judging Books By Their Covers

Well, we all do it.

Literally and figuratively. I work in publishing. We judge books by their covers all the time. In fact, I judged three books by their covers in the last 2 days, 2 of these books don't even exist yet, and the other one had a type-o on it.

Standing at B&N or browsing through Amazon or wherever affords lots of opportunities to pass major judgment on the quality, content, marketability, and subjective attractiveness of a book. I mean, if a book cover stinks, you'll never know if the 65,000 words inside might have changed your life because you won't bother picking it up. Conversely, if the book cover is awesome, I mean, just the coolest thing you've ever seen, you buy it, and the insides reek of mundane ramblings, then you're out of luck (and $15.99 poorer).

So, we judge books by their covers, websites by their first-glance, churches by their parking lots, and people by their appearances...

It's not necessarily fair, but first impressions do matter. So, without approving judge-at-first-sight behaviors, I must concede that they happen. And then work toward putting my best first foot forward as a Christian instead of putting my best first foot in my mouth as a Christian.

Hope

There are at least two kinds of hope.

One kind is inextricably tied to faith: It is an expectation based on trust in God. This kind of hope believes that God has his best in mind for us. This kind of hope breeds a sort of confidence that because of who God is and, more pertinently, what he has done for us on the cross of Christ, we are guaranteed a part in his future actions. "I have faith in what God has done... so, my hope for the future is in him alone."

The other kind of hope is the kind that we read about in the newspapers and the best-seller lists: This kind of hope is more of a feeling. It is really an unfounded desire that what we want to happen is what is going to happen. "My hope is that these things will happen and because they should happen--they will happen. I hope."

The first kind is what we find in 1 Peter 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

The second kind is more like having a feeling that the stock market is going to go my way today.

Interesting how the same word that can elicit huge emotion is made to mean so many different things. This is why language is so dangerously beautiful.

(On a side note: I am so grateful for my wife, Rachel, and the conversations she starts and the ways she makes me think through things, like 'hope.' Yay for marriage.)

A theology of busy-ness

Well, in this current season of life, my wife and I have become very aware of how so very busy we are. When you add up holiday celebrations, regular work, extracurricular work/teaching, writing, taking classes, and general hanging out, it sometimes adds up to more than a lot.

Now we are grateful for all these opportunities to pursue passions, love people, and be productive, absolutely. When faced with the opposite (boredom, misdirection, and sloth) it isn't hard to choose busy-ness. In fact it is this busy-ness that allows us to really savor different moments, different people, different skills, and make better use of all our time.

There aren't going to be huge profundities here or anything, but I think our lives ought to be a constant balance of work and rest. The difficulty arises when the in between times of hobbies, extra work, learning, etc. are both rejuvenating for the mind and draining for the body. Is it rest? Or is that just more and more and more work?

We'll see. But a more concerted effort will be made in the near future to just sit and awe at the grace of God for where He has brought us and where He is bringing us.

And the best part of our busy-ness at this early stage of our marriage is that we get to do these things and be busy together... at different functions or just at our house typing, typing away.

Regrets

Yesterday I had a really great conversation about whether having regrets was biblical.

So, as the two of us spoke frankly about these issues we decided that it was really a matter of semantics: one man's regrets could be biblical, while another man's regrets might be sin (or at least a waste of time)... and if it is just based on one's definition, then we figured that we might as well go to the keeper of definitions: the big, red, Webster's on the shelf:

Regret (n): sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one's control or power to repair

Well, hmmm. Then it would seem as if the operable word here might be "sorrow."

If your idea of a "regret" is saying: "Man, if I could go back and do that over again, I would," then we all have those. The problem arises when you model your life after Uncle Rico ("back in '84 if the coach had put me in we'd have won the championship"), basically saying that "because 'A' happened, my life is 'B' and 'C', and I will live the rest of my life in light of those consequeces."

Do I believe that I make tons of mistakes? Do I believe in God's providence in my life? Do I believe that I am the person I am today because of all the good and bad decisions I have made? Do I believe that God loves me and desires the best for my life? If I say "yes" to these questions then the result of my mistakes, my bad decisions, and my neutral decisions that ended with a bad result are all opportunities to learn and to be dependent on God. They are not opportunities for making excuses ("If this had happened, then I wouldn't have all these other problems") and they are not opportunities for playing the big "what if" game with life... that is a quick way to waste a few precious decades.


The Apostle Paul wrote this in his second letter to the Corinthians (in response to their response to his previous letter--which dealt with some harsh things):

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it--I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while--yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2 Corinthians 7:8-10)

Godly sorrow becomes repentance and allows us to revel in God's goodness, mercy, and grace on our lives--it focuses on the wickedness of sin (which leads toward our own abhorrence of it) . Worldly sorrow brings death (both in this life and the next) because it is a selfish sorrow which focuses solely on the consequences of our sin (which are generally not pleasant and result in a "woe-is-me even though it is my own fault" syndrome).

So, no, I do not think regrets are biblical as these regrets generally cause us to be more focused on ourselves and less focused on God. If our "regrets" cause us to be more focused on eradicating the sin from our lives, rather than on eradicating the consequences of our sin from our lives, then they are useful for a time in order to understand better what God has done for us.

Are we the dumbest generation?

Probably.

I am reading this book called The Dumbest Generation by a guy named Mark Bauerlein. I have not even read most of it, but this is not a book review, yet. I saw it for the first time in B&N like 3 months ago and just checked it out from the CPL recently.

The whole premise of the book is that the dawn of the information superhighway, the answers to all our questions being so readily available, and the sheer amounts of technology that are available today have led our generation (<30 years old) to be poised at the forefront of human ingenuity, the pinnacle of modern thinking, and the golden digital age of globalization... but instead we are a generation of do-littles that are largely unable to wisely converse, smartly problem-solve, and/or work hard toward a difficult goal. The technology that we have at our disposal has caused us to become codependent on it and on each other--which, in turn, has made us experts at communicating with ourselves... about nothing.

Quite a dreary picture. Also, kind of a funny one. Because the guy who is writing it is constantly on the defensive (not wanting to sound like an old grandpa: "back in my day...") and those of us in that generation are on the defensive (if we can put down our video games, blackberrys, and stop typing mercilessly on our blogs) so as to not sound like mindless drivelers.

I'll let you know how the book turns out, but for now, I'd probably say that he is pretty right on. Young people are wasting droves of time, forgetting how to read books (maybe he thought we wouldn't even pick this one up), not learning how to work hard, unable to have a real face-to-face conversation, and trying their best to do the minimum amount required.

Instead of being the tool it was promised to be, technology has become our crutch (try to leave home without your mobile or not connect to the Internet for even half a day)... we'll see what happens. It certainly is a scary new world.

Editor as Mentor

Editing a piece of writing is a whole lot like taking a mentoring role in a younger person's life...

Picture yourself, the editor, when the author has just given you their baby, akin to their firstborn, their book, their precious, the 75,000 words they fought for with blood, sweat, and fingernails -- and said, "Okay, I've done everything I can with this thing. Please understand my heart for this project, please understand how much it means to me, please understand how this will have my name on it, please understand that I am being very vulnerable right now in letting you in on my secret little world." And then you're given the oft "envied-in-theory" task of taking their life's work, which is pretty good, and making it shine...

Now, as a mentor, you've been given the oft "envied-in-theory" task of coming alongside someone who needs or wants some guidance. They might well have had some amazing parents who brought them up and taught them the way they should go, but, in the end, the job of helping to form an effective life is not just a job for super-mom and/or super dad... So, mom and/or dad is able to see this mentor person as a complement to their child-rearing (not a threat), a help in times of trouble, a voice of encouragement when they feel as if their input is no longer valued.

In the end, authors get their names on books, and children are officially a reflection of their parents, but in reality, if it's not a collaborative effort (editors and mentors), they will just stay pretty good, not quite at potential--just shy of shining and often short of greatness.