After an elder recommend it to me when I first ascended the mountainous region of West Virginia, and stayed with him, I began reading Don Kistler’s work A Spectacle Unto God. Yet I hadn’t picked it up in quite a while. Now after reading some this morning, I’m now going to be finishing it soon (its a short book).

The book alternates chapters filled with biography and letters sent/received during Love’s stay in the Tower of London. Thus Kistler does a good job of not simply telling a story, but encompasses all perspectives: the Normative (the standard of truth-Scripture; HEAD) the Situational (what’s happening in life and the world; HANDS) and Existential (experiential or HEART) perspectives. For more info on the multi-perspective stuff, click here.

Anyhow, sometimes I wonder what it really looks like in life when folks say, “The times were tough, but the Lord was totally with me.” I mean, sometimes God doesn’t deliver us from our situation. Nevertheless, existentially, he does deliver us from being enslaved to our situation. This truth is what Christopher Love, in essence, wrote and expressed to his wife:

…for he said himself that he did never know what it was to have full assurance of faith till he had received that sentence of death at the bar, and at that very minute he said to his wife that, “God came in with such ravishing manifestations of love upon my soul that I feared it was to discovered in my countenance and may be so interpreted if I smiled in a contemptuous way upon my judges.” pg 71

Teaching in the ghetto can be dangerous. Of course, you can go to the opposite end of the spectrum and go to Alaska. Unfortunately, that might not necessarily be the safest place to teach either. Check out this sad story about a teacher apparently attacked by wolves.
Kind of reminds me of the movie Twilight where the town folk didn’t know what kept mauling its residents. But as far as I know, that movie is not “based on” or “inspired by” a true story. Still, creepy.

I’ve been loving the Spring weather we’ve been having up here in WV. I think its even supposed to get up to the mid 70’s today.

Unfortunately it will get a bit colder and rainier for the weekend. And I’m sure there are a few more cold fronts to come, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we got some more snow. In some ways, this warming trend has been incredibly helpful to me personally: I can once again wear flip-flops and Connar can play outside.

On the other hand, this taste of spring makes me yearn for more of spring. So when that taste of spring meets up with my experience of winter, this can also be quite difficult. I mean if another arctic cold front comes through, it will probably feel worse in some ways since I know exactly what I’m missing.

This spring fever parallels the experience of the Christian. We get a little taste of heaven throughout our Christian walk. Sometimes that taste comes through singing, hearing the Word preached, marital benefits, the brilliance of a piece of art, music, movie, or simply, the actual season of spring. But its a taste and not the whole thing.

So when we find ourselves fully satisfied with this world, that Jesus could just take his sweet old time returning and making all things new, we should be alerted that something is not right with us. After all, the penultimate verse of the bible is, “Come Lord Jesus, come. “

And when we find ourselves not fully satisfied in this world, we should be reminded that it is not because we “still haven’t found what we’re looking for,” but that as Bono later sang, “Yahweh, always pain before the child is born.”

In conclusion, Christians get a taste of heaven which satisfies us along the journey, but that satisfaction will not be complete THIS side of heaven. That taste will leave us longing for more.

Tuesday was my day off this week, so Amy, Connar, and I “celebrated” by going to the laundromat to wash an over-sized dusty comforter. It brought back not so fond memories of my life as a youth director (we didn’t have a dryer), and so every Tuesday I’d be off drying clothes with the Clinton, SC community. I remember one day seeing a gospel tract which wasn’t as “gospel” as I’d hoped.

Well unfortunately the same thing happened to us on this trip to the laundromat in Hurricane, WV (although this city is our mailing address, we actually live in Teays Valley). This time I saw a bunch of tracts, although I imagine they all had a similar message since they were put out by the same folks. And I did check out two of them.

The Menonites placed their seal of approval on these tracts and as a result, the gospel became very works oriented. What I mean is that it was very close to a Jesus + good behavior=salvation.

In addition, if we wanted to be happy, we could simply follow the 10 commandments. While God instructed the Israelites to choose life (Deut 30:19, which was the title of my last sermon on Jonah), he knew that only Jesus would choose life perfectly. And only by resting secure in Jesus can we respond without fear of failure, because He has chosen life perfectly on our behalf.

While the gospel always produces a life change-a life of repentance and pre-ordained works to walk in (Eph 2:10)-a life change must never be considered to have any salvific merit (Eph 2:8-9). Paul referred to this as “another gospel” (Galatians 1:7).

After the sadness which comes from seeing another “another gospel” tract lifted, we were soon ushered away on the wings of laundromat employee’s cigarette smoke. A fine morning indeed, but at least we got rid of some change and now have a warm comforter to last us through the night.

I think we’re up to FIVE sunny days in a row in West Virginia now. Crazy. Crazy good though.

Anyhow, after reading through some new testament epistles for my devotional time, I’m now going old school and hitting up Nehemiah. One thing which struck me was how difficult it would have been to see your home town Jerusalem, at one time the most unique and blessed city in the world, now in ruins.

How overwhelming it must have been to swing the first hammer and hit the first nail? I can only imagine how difficult that would be unless you had in your head a clear picture of what it could become.

Imagining what a city, church, person COULD become-if God showed up-seems like the only way one could hopefully labor in rebuilding cities like Haiti or Chile, or in leading a family or a church.

That’s one of the things that the book of Revelation brings to the table. In chapter 21, John gives us a picture of a heavenly city coming down to Earth (the full completion of God’s Kingdom and work in the world) and a beautiful bride descending (the church made unfiied, beautiful, and complete). Amidst your laboring, and wherever you do it, make sure you take a few moments, every so often, to see what WILL happen one day.

If now “It is what it is,” (which might be the most overused expression in the world), one day, “It will be what it will be.”

Last night, after struggling to get Connar to bed for a while, Amy, my Mom, and I sat down to watch our first “Office,” in the new place. Two of the characters, Pam and Jim, who met on the show, got pregnant on the show, married on the show, headed to the hospital at the last possible second to deliver their baby.

But it wasn’t just them: the family came with them. Well, the office family. Michael, the boss, even stepped into the delivery room in between Pam’s pushing. Of course when he encountered the mess of child birth, he immediately about-faced to the waiting room where the rest of the office remained. One man was even dispatched to the house to retrieve an I-pod, and instead decided to remove the mold and put in some new cabinets.

Only Pam’s mother showed up in person to see the baby. One of Pam’s friends showed up as well, but for the most part it was just the office crowd. Seems like quite a departure from a “Seinfeldian” family or family of “Friends.” Perhaps there is nothing to the lack of nuclear family support, but it definitely seems like a new kind of family has emerged. And for those who have no church family, what other type of “family” could they hope for?

Perhaps office based TV shows have in the past tried to depict a family feel, but I’m not aware of another one that seems to both ‘preach’ and model such a family feel.

Tiger is not totally out of the Woods yet, as far as sponsors, golfing, and marriage go. But apparently he is training and planning on a return to golf and family life. He’ll probably be back on the golf course without missing a beat because there aren’t many more focused athletes on the planet.

Back with the wife again, well, maybe. According to this article, he recently spent time in marriage counseling with wife Elin. I’m kind of thankful I’m not that marriage counselor, for a number of reasons, one being that I’m not real hopeful this marriage will make it. Focus on the golf course doesn’t translate to deep heart change, especially at the level of motivation.

But part of me-the part which forgets how unqualified I am to do such counseling-thinks it an opportune and apropos time to share the story of the gospel.

Of course the husband-wife roles are semi-reversed, and instead of a man-whore, you see prophet Hosea’s wife Gomer (not a really flattering name is it) continually running from her faithful husband. Hosea has to chase her down, prying her away from the arms of other lovers.

The story, as you may know is an allegory of God’s faithful pursuit of his whoring bride Israel/Church. A wife who gives herself to lesser pleasures and “gods” instead of remaining in the arms of a God who continually chases her down and truly offers lasting satisfaction (Isa 55) and fulfillment (John 4).

I’d say Tiger, “What you’ve done, is kind of like how we’ve all responded to an initiating and pursuing God, who is also Holy. However, he does offer payment and forgiveness in His Son and a promise of restoration in the relationship between God and others. Even though Elin has every right not to welcome you back-and she totally does-there is still hope for you to receive a new record, start, heart, and family.”

Yep, that’s what I think I’d say.

Some shows come on TV, and you can tell they are destined for only a brief moment in the spotlight. While I thoroughly enjoyed deception based shows like “My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss” and “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance,” you knew they just wouldn’t last. Did you not think the same would happen with “Dancing with the Stars?” I’ll admit I was totally wrong. Can you honestly say you thought such a summer filler type show would make its way into so many homes over the last several years?

NFL star Chad Ochocinco and Kate Gosselin (formerly of Jon and Kate Plus 8) will dance their way into someone’s hearts (not mine) this 10th season. But have you ever stopped to think why this show is so popular? If millions of people like something, they usually like that something for a reason.

Perhaps its the scantily clad ladies, and I think that’s certainly part of it. Perhaps its our fascination with celebrities? Perhaps we like to see people fail?

But perhaps it is also the beauty and artwork of dancing/choreography, which we can perform and appreciate as human beings made in the image of God. The popularity of TV shows often reveals not only our “fallen-ness” but also some aspect of being Image bearers and thus reflecting something true of Him.

Whatever it is, or rather whatever combination it is, I think “Dancing with the Stars” hits home with something in us (again, not me, but millions of folks). Though not many dudes will actually admit to watching it, I bet you’ve met someone who said, “No I don’t watch the show,” yet currently can’t wait for Chad Ochocinco to waltz and Kate Gosselin to do the mamba.

These are my best guesses for why “Dancing with Stars” has garnered such an audience. Feel free to chime on and agree or disagree or let me know what you think.

Sometimes people really surprise you. Just more proof that you can’t judge folks by “the outward appearance,” because God reminds us in his correspondence with Samuel, “the Lord looks at the heart (I Sam 16:7).”

Now while God intended this passage to show that Israel shouldn’t simply be awed by King Saul’s awesome size, and ignore the younger and smaller David, I think this could also be applicable figure skating. Of course to some degree. Let me explain.

Before going any further, I will say this: Connar will not be doing any male or male/male pair figure skating like Will Farell and John Heder in Blades of Glory. However I will also say that I was extremely humbled in my judgment of figure skater Evan Lysacek during an interview.

If you didn’t see Lysacek’s routine, or whatever you call it, he wore a black feathered outfit. The joker looked like a crow, as you can tell from the above picture. He really did. I thought he might fly through the screen and “caw” at me. Though his outfit was black, he looked as fruity as Tropicana. That’s how he appeared.

Then came the verbal jabs from the rival, a mullet sporting “Rusky.” You know, typical figure skating “smack” like so-and-so doesn’t do any “quads, and shouldn’t be in consideration for a medal” and “because of him the sport is regressing.” The standard smack.

After winning the gold, and the Rusky the silver, Bob Costas interviewed him. Costas couldn’t ignore such statements, and that’s when Evan’s response blew me away. He did not fire ANY smack back. He spoke well of the Rusky, explaining that in the heat of the moment, people say things.

Costas then reminded him that these quotes came well before the silver. So Evan then responded, “Well….he has been a mentor for a number of years, and has been great for the ‘sport’……what he’s accomplished has been amazing….”

Wow. That’s grace. Pastors and pastor-blogger types don’t show this much grace to fellow pastor-blogger types. Humbled indeed by “the crow.” Points me back to the One who didn’t revile when folks reviled Him (I Peter 3:16). And He did it for me. I hope I would be as gracious as Evan, but if/when I fail in this area, it is good to know someone died for that sin and gives us all back-smackers and “quick-responders” hope to grow in this area.

Haven’t been around the blogosphere in a while, but figured it was time to pick back up. I had a pretty good excuse not to blog the last week or two as we had to rent our house, clean it up, box it up, and move on North to snowy West Virginia (where I had to use hot water to get my car door open again today), and then cram into our rented townhome up here. Life has been crazy.

This really has nothing to do with anything, but I found this article kind of funny, since I’m a straw chewer. A basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks has a dangerous-but also illegal according to NBA rules-habit: chewing straws during the games.

I guess the NBA figured this might not be the safest habit in the world. I’ll probably side with the league on this one.