I’ve been encouraged lately by some women in our church who’ve taken seriously the call to disciple other women. Some have done it through formal bible studies, Christian Ed, while others have used informal get-togethers or simply grabbing coffee. I’m also thankful for those who seek out new discipleship opportunities: either to lead or puting themselves in the path to be led. Here’s a thoughtful “take” (sorry, I listen to a lot of Jim Rome) on women’s discipleship from a blog connected with the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Just in case you were wondering, this is a ladyfish.

I’ve been trying to read through the bible in a year now, but I confess I’m a little behind. I’ve alternated old and new testament books and am just finishing up Numbers right now. Sometimes the Old Testament can be hard to read because it seems so immoral. I mean, killing kids is something that usually sets off our moral radars.

When the Lord avenged Himself and the Israelites by eliminating males (even the little lads) in Midian, it did seem a bit unfair on the kids. I mean these were kids, right?

I watched Lost last night, and somehow the main characters went back in time and found one the present characters named Ben when he was just a boy. One of the “good guys” shot the boy in the stomach and then there was a concomitant race to save young Ben’s life. I won’t give away the ending of the episode in case you actually watch the show and DVR’d it or something. But let’s just say that many were in favor of saving this child’s life. Even though he would grow up and kill loads of people mercilessly. Even though he would grow up and look like this: the dude looks way creepy and those in favor of saving his life definitely forgot that.

Those in favor of saving the child said, “I know who he turns out to be, but this is just a little kid now.” Very few could see the bigger picture, even the child’s Dad, who was later killed by his son Ben.

Now this episode doesn’t end all discussion, nor does it exhaustively explain God’s heart behind these tough commands. Nevertheless it helps me to see that God always has a bigger picture in mind. God knew what they would and of course did do when these cute little kids grew up and led people in all kinds of evil.

My dreams of the Buccaneers landing a quarterback with some real skills just took a dip toward potential reality. Now of course the owners who already own soccer’s premier franchise Manchester United, will not pay for a top tier quarterback, but there is no harm in dreaming.

Jay Cutler, current quarterback for the Denver Broncos has now declared that his relationship with the new head coach (who is a year old than me-that is just plain crazy by the way, but then so is the Bucs coach) is irreparable. Cutler has been angered since the team tried to trade him a month ago, so the new coach could be reunited with his previous year’s QB. Apparently both sides have handled the situation poorly, according to some thoughtful NFL analysts. The NFL is a business and Cutler needs to realize he is ultimately just a commodity to help sell tickets and jerseys.

But the main problem Cutler has with his new coach boils down to trust. He cannot work with someone who has allegedly lied to him. He cannot work with someone he cannot respect. He doesn’t need to like him, but he has to be able to respect and trust him.

Now to some Cutler seems like a winy little brat, and I can see that. But for a man, so much seems to come back to trust and respect. Not that we don’t want to love people we work with and for, but the desire to be loved or to love someone in authority seems to be of secondary importance. Respect for the guy is primary. To be disrespected or to not be able to respect seems like it hits guys harder even than not being loved or able to love.

That’s been my experience. And my experience seems to match up with what Paul says in Ephesians 5 concerning marriage. I think that’s why Paul instructed women to “respect” their husbands. Not that men don’t respect their wives (I Peter 3 tells us to), but the matter is one of primacy. So while I think Culter has acted somewhat like a crybaby-a crybaby I want to be the starting QB for the Bucs-I can understand his unwillingness to play for a coach he cannot respect. He’s also a man.

I’ve heard of people watching movies with the express intent of trying not to be persuaded by anything communicated in them. That kind of thinking is not Reformed. Now we shouldn’t be oysters and watch or suck in everything without thought. But if you’re only on the defensive, you’ll miss a lot of really good stuff.

I was flipping through the channels Saturday night and came across American Beauty, a movie I had already seen. Now the movie is quite disturbing, somewhat graphic, and I don’t recommend it. However in the few minutes I watched, I heard something quite profound. The teenage daughter’s friend said, “Don’t leave, and you should listen to me because I’m your friend!” The daughter’s boyfriend responded, “You’re not a friend. She’s just someone you use to feel good about yourself.”

How many “friendships” are just relationships where one party is using the other to feel good about him/herself through physical attraction, pleasure, social status, etc….? More than half, way more than half. Like the lad in the movie, I would not call such relationship a real “friendship.”

Another movie Amy and I just finished was Into the Wild. We really enjoyed this one (though we could have done without a few scenes). Throughout the movie the main character ran from material possession and relationships, finally realizing nature alone was insufficient for real joy. He wrote, “Happiness is only real when shared.”

How true is that! I see so many people retreating from relationships, and they are miserable! Happiness doesn’t come in isolation but in community. Throughout the movie the main character (it is a true story so that make it even cooler, or sadder I guess) has so many experiences with random people, not to mention with Alaskan scenery, flora and fauna. I kept thinking, “How miserable it would be to not share these experiences with others?“

By the end, he comes to the same conclusion as the writer of Ecclesiastes: “If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (4:10)

Biblical truth can and will be expressed through people made in the image of God. We shouldn’t be surprised to see or hear it expressed.

While putting together my Keynote (Powerpoint for Mac) presentation for Christian Ed this Sunday, I listened to the new U2 album for the first time a few weeks. One of the lyrics in a song called “Stand-up Comedy,” holds this thoughtful insight: “Stop helping God cross the street like a little old lady…” First of all, I think that’s a hilarious image, whatever it means.

But I do think I see what Bono’s getting at. There is much mystery in God, and we don’t always “get” His ways. In fact we shouldn’t expect to always “get” His ways, since He does remind us that His ways and thoughts are often not the same as ours; they are higher (Isaiah 55:8-9). While Bono isn’t divinely inspired like the writer of Isaiah, I think he provides some helpful insight for we who are too quick to defend God’s actions to others-as though we know the purpose behind them.

Sometimes we need to just say, “I don’t know why He did it that way; it doesn’t SEEM to make sense.” Often times it is better not to defend God’s actions to others (especially those suffering) as though He were a little old lady needing help some help to cross the street. We can believe He’s fair and just, and at the same time say to the person questioning God, “I don’t get it either.” He’s not a little old lady.

Kip from Napoleon Dynamite sang at his wedding, “Yes, I love technology, not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology…” For Kip, the internet allowed him to meet and marry his soul mate Lafawndah.

For our Wed night discussion at Thinktank (a group of folks from Hope and those outside the church who gather at Starbucks to discuss a variety of issues), we spent time addressing the pros and cons of technology and its effects on relationships and community. Different people had differing opinions on the benefits and detriments of the internet, but we didn’t see any sort of generational consensus.

Certainly angry blog commenter guy who lives boldly behind a computer screen or anonymity is a negative. Other negatives expressed by a wide variety of ages included the potential breakdown of close intimate friendships. However, most of us did recognize that the internet actually helped to sustain relationships otherwise unsustainable due to conflicting schedules, physical disabilities, or geographic separation.

One of the most positive examples I can give on how technology and the internet has helped relationships and community is my kayak fishing forum. The online forum community does not serve as a replacement community. Instead it is only a starting place to begin and sustain relationships. Because of the forum, 50-60 men desiring relationships and community get together for fishing tournaments 4 times a year. And numbers of people build friendships through “meeting” and setting up fishing trips via the forum. I think that’s a huge positive otherwise impossible without the internet.

Feel free to comment on how you see a negative/positive relationship between technology and the formation of community and deep relationships.

After fishing Friday evening with a buddy of mine (Amy was supposed to be out of town-that’s not how I spend most Friday nights!) we shared some good pizza and beer. During dinner I had the opportunity to further cordially share the gospel with him.

One thing really stuck with me: since I listened to him, he told me that he was glad to listen to me. He said something to the effect of “I can talk with you about this kind of stuff.”

He contrasted me with the angry fundamentalist friend, with whom he DOES NOT and CANNOT enter into dialog. Now there are some serious hang-ups with science and faith, so I suggested The Reason For God. He said he would be up for reading some of that, so we’ll see. If I learned anything, listening and love (fishing=love to both of us) opens doors for pleasant and reasonable gospel conversation. Even when you bring it up without the smooth gospel transitions like I placed on the church resource table this past Sunday!

A line in The Godfather reminds us to “Never go against the family.” I learned that one the hard way, well of course not as hard as if I were actually in the mafia. I lost the bet. I should never have bet against my son. I should have known that this incredibly persistent child would soon be walking. But I also kind of figured betting against him was like betting against my favorite team. Either way, you win. For my punishment of “going against the family,” I will now have to bake a pie. Never done that before. Still better than the original bet, which was nixed by the wife. Fortunately. Here’s the video.

A few nights ago Amy and I were watching re-runs of The Office on TBS. Funny how watching them on TBS is easy and quite enjoyable; but rarely will I ever actually put in a DVD featuring the same episode. Anyhow, Michael was interviewing for a position which appeared the obvious next step up. As I’ve learned in interviews, the one conducting the interview always asks you to share personal strengths and weaknesses. Micheal said, “Why don’t I just tell you my weaknesses: I care too much about the company, and I work too hard. My weaknesses are my strengths.”

When some of us admit our weaknesses, we may not do exactly what Michael does, but we don’t do too much better. For instance, one acceptable weakness to confess is pride. It’s acceptable to say, I struggle with pride. It admits nothing. But rarely do we admit how we struggle with pride. Someone asked me the other day, “How do you see pride show up in your life?” He assumed it was there, and just wanted to see how it popped its ugly head.

If an interviewer asks you a question about your weaknesses you are compelled to answer. You need to answer honestly, but there is always some fear in the back of your mind: “I need to be honest, but I don’t want to tell too much and hurt my chances of getting the job.”

We often look at relationships in a similar interviewing light. But when you find someone who will hear your weaknesses and not threaten you with any loss of relationship (like not being hired or being fired or looked at weirdly), it’s a totally different ball game. And that interviewer/interviewed connection vanishes like the ACC in recent NCAA tournaments.

It sure is refreshing when you have relationships where weaknesses are talked about and accepted. Then you will experience the freedom and joy of the gospel far more than holding your cards too close to the vest.

I like receiving missionary prayer updates because it is very hard for me to pray generic prayers. A missionary our church supports has had serious VISA issues for some time, and I’m not talking about her credit card. The country, which shall remain nameless for her protection, is not helping matters out.

How hard would this be for a missionary? Put yourself in her shoes. You are compelled to be in a specific locale and work to translate the scriptures into the vernacular (language of the people), and yet things are becoming harder and harder to do just that. She’s not praying for a Porsche or riches; she’s praying for the Visa so she can translate scriptures.

This is a “What is the deal God” type moment for me, I can’t imagine what its like for her! It really comes to me at an appropriate time as I’ve been personally wrestling with this question of “differently answered” prayers while preaching through Habakkuk (here’s a sermon I preached on Habakkuk this past Sunday which some folks said they’ve found helpful). How it might feel like God is not on her side! But I also began to think of something like this happening to an old school missionary a long time ago: Paul. Instead of God letting him go to all the crazy places he had anticipated going, he gets locked up in a prison, spends time in house arrest, and then gets beheaded.

And yet the gospel went forth to the nations. Not my plan, but God sure did and does know what He’s doing, even when it seems he doesn’t.