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.

A Partial Analysis

I am taking one graduate school class this semester. It is a course centered around analyzing the needs in different communities. For our big project we have partnered with a local church in the far southwest reaches of Chicago to help them assess the neighborhood and needs that exist within walking distance of the church building.

So, for 3 hours each, two days in a row, we knocked on doors and asked people what kinds of needs exist in their communities. Where are they hurting? Where might the local church step in to help them in their most dire need? Is it teen pregnancy centers? Food pantries? Teaching English? Counseling? Bible Studies? In addition to being cold and feeling inadequate for the task, several of us purposed to find answers to these questions...

And while the answers are still being tabulated and the stats have yet to come in, my overwhelming feeling was one of helplessness. When asked to rate certain needs on a 1-to-5 scale, most realistic people gave me a look as if I was crazy and then said, "Well, these are all pretty big needs... do you want me to name some more?"

I am now trying to figure out what to do in light of this experience and these Scriptures:

Matthew 25
Acts 4

I'm Back Baby - For Real This Time?

Okay… after 2 years and 2 months away, I have finally decided that this blogging business is worth it.

Here’s why I will be blogging once again:
-Learning to write more succinctly is a skill that needs constant sharpening
-I like having a place to say stuff
-At least 2 people have asked me about it in the last 26 months
-It takes discipline. I need more of that
-Writing is really fun, and I claim it is my favorite thing to do, so… I better do it


I believe in the near future I will cover such topics as: heaven and hell, global missions opportunities, whether America is going down the crapper, the minor prophets, marriage budgets, editing books, the value of graduate school education, human capital, where we find our value, and what the Church can learn from the American college fraternity…

Part I - Minimized Effectiveness

The birds of the air and the lilies of the field. They know what they are doing.

Worry is a lot of things. Worry is how we cope with things we can't handle. Worry is a waste of time. Worry is a defense mechanism. Worry is not going to solve anything. And most of all, worry is a lack of belief in the fact that God has our best in mind.

If we truly believe that God is in control and we then believe He loves us, then Jesus' words ring true: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:26-27, NIV).

Well, that is all well and good. But why is it so hard? We are in a battle here. What might cause someone to worry might not make someone else think twice. There might be something that would give you an ulcer, but it wouldn't phase someone else. . . Satan is wily. He is the father of lies. And our lack of faith in trying situations is not coincidentally tied with Satan's knowledge of what we struggle with. He is going to attack us in our weaknesses. He is going to tell us lies that build us up and tear our faith down.

Be ready. He gets us all comfortable and then just about when we are feeling pretty good about how great we are, we are attacked. Satan fights dirty. . .

I want my passion to matter

There are a lot of things that seem like they matter.

I get sidetracked by things that seem like they make a difference. I get suckerpunched by feelings of loyalty toward certain earthly things and finite products that fain importance. And then I get put in my place.

As passion emboldens us toward action we get immobilized by things that seem like they matter. In the context of what we have been given to be stewards of, we must be responsible with the talents the Master has left in our temporary possession. But even those talents are meant to drive ourselves to be more like the Master and the multiplication of assets ought to be eternal in their mindset.

If we get bogged into putting our faith into the things of this earth, we will awake one day with our arthritic, mutinous bodies wondering what happened to our one chance at life. But if our mindset remains fixed on the only Difference-maker, if our mental capacities remain focused on the furthering of the Kingdom of God and the emulation of the Ultimate Life-liver, Jesus, we might be so privileged to see that Kingdom coming to Earth.

There is no calling to which Believers must aspire that does not involve the spread of the Good News and the fighting of the Good Fight. If we spiral into the realm of meaninglessness where the Enemy draws us, we are not believing God for his best and we are not believing in His ability to work mightily more than we are able.

Don't worry about the temporal things because they will pass whether we pour our lives into them or not. Realize what things matter for eternity and focus on them. Or else we will lose the chance to be the Good and Faithful Servants who have been successful in the job put before us...

On your knees boy

I always say that I will pray about things.

I usually do. Sometimes I don't.

Sometimes it is easier not to pray because I know what the answer will be. Sometimes it is by conversing with God that I find out the answers He has been so desperately trying to make known to me. Sometimes I do a lot of talking. Usually I try to do more listening.

God has promised to answer us when we call to Him. He has promised to show us great things that we could not figure out on our own. When a prayer is offered in faith it has the power to make a sick person well. When we interact with God through conversation, meditiation, or just by being still before Him -- there is no limit to what can happen.

There are no excuses for an inconsistent prayer life. I have tried them all and in the end it boils down to my inability to commit, my inability to humbly bow, my inability to hold a real conversation and my inability to recognize the reality of God's desire to show Himself as being so real. So real, in fact, that I am at fault for excluding Him from a conversation that He has caused to happen.

"I am sorry. Take my every interaction and base it around Yourself so that I might be a light in a world that has forgotten about the lightswitch."

Ask me a question...

There are some great question-askers turned authors out there these days. I could list them off, but you already know who they are. The ones it is cool to talk about in the coffee shops (like the one I am in now), the ones who you name drop to your friends wearing the thick-rimmed glasses, the ones who attempt to "spare you the religion" and get right to the point. While these writers conjure up new choices and indecision, I am left to search for the answers.

I read them all. But somehow I am always left parched. Licking my lips like some dog who doesn'’t understand why the sun is still so hot even after I lapped up all that water; I am still left to my own devices just like before. Except now I am armed with a whole sack full of new questions and observations. I still don't know what I am supposed to do. Tons of great questions are being asked, but very few definitive, good old fashioned, objective answers are claimed. We have got to claim truth, not run from conflict.

And until I can find the "“perfect"” group to worship with and experience God alongside, I am left treading water. But that is not right. Should I look for the perfect group? Or should I take what I am given and roll with it?

As new questions emerge, old answers still stand strong.

Gnashing of Teeth

We were all apportioned different lots in life on purpose. For reasons beyond our individual and limited knowledge God has given some of us very little and some of us way more than we need. In one of the most illustrative and poignant parables he ever told, Jesus explains why there is seeming inequality in our world. As he tells the story of the man who went on a journey and entrusted his money to his servants there is a great amount of truth to be found.

Not only does the parable of the talents explain why Communism doesn't work it goes way beyond that in explaining the fact that we are all responsible for what we have been given. No more, no less. We must be good caretakers of our wealth while the master is away. Upon his return we will be asked how we used his gifts.

As you see this doesn't make a millionaire any more important than the guy who asked me for change outside the 7-11 last night. But here is the real point, are we being good and faithful servants? Upon his return is the master going to say, "Well done?"

Don't get caught up in size, magnitude or pride. Our real test lies in what we do with what we got. And more than that, not discounting the ability of someone or someplace with little to make a huge impact...

So little time...

Someday all the words in my head will be put onto the blank paper that lies in front of me. For now these meager sentences will have to suffice... I'm back baby. If only for myself, these words provide comfort in the midst of a life that could not be going if it were not for the life-giver.

Walking down my overgrown and character-driven street on the evening of the 4th day in July I found myself transported to some abandoned street in the outskirts of some Austrian town toward the end of the Second World War. It was all in my imagination, that is except for the rat-tat-tat and the ka-boom and the ka-boom and the weeeeee-ooohhh coming from all sides. It was a literal and figurative battle. Firecrackers being fired from every direction and yet with the overgrown trees and shrubs I saw nothing but the glow of light over the din of the streetlamps. It was an eerie battle scene, caught in the crosshairs of a proverbial battleground on our Independence Day, I imagined getting fired at, pursuing an enemy and taking no prisoners.

It was real and as I sought the shelter of my 80 year old apartment building I couldn't help but feel blessed to have that be the closest I have come to a wartime experience. Guns fired, bombs dropped and life-fearing are daily events in history books and geographical maps outside this country of ours.

Reality struck on the anniversary of the day that we won our freedom. And yet hundreds of years later there is little more freedom than that in our grave world. O for a Savior to rescue us from ourselves. Thank you Jesus.