Yesterday marked something new in my life. I was too tired to fish. Amy said, “Don’t you want to get out and fish in the morning?” After the 2:45 am feeding, I had no gas left in the tank. I chose sleep over fishing. I can’t remember the last time that happened. I really can’t. Will this be a new trend for me? Perhaps as long as it takes to get Connar sleeping through the night, or at least simply sleeping period. Though he did sleep after the 12:45 am feeding last night, so maybe there’s fishing still in my future…

Since I didn’t kayak fish, I had some extra energy to spend doing yard work and working out. I brought my Ipod and listened to a sermon by Jean Larroux, pastor of Lagniappe Pres in Bay St. Louis, MS (where we went on our mission trip). He’s probably the best preacher I’ve heard, being passionate, illustrative, and concise. He has been preaching through a series on The Lord’s Prayer, and this one is on “Your Kingdom Come.”

His sermons are the perfect length to listen to on the computer or Ipod (only 25 minutes or so). So if you have a spare 25 minutes, I would highly encourage this one. It was quite challenging for me and much better than my sermon on the kingdom!

Click the link here to go to the church’s podcast, and then click on “Your Kingdom Come.” However all of them are great.

On Saturday I watched my brother run a triatholon. Watching people run/swim/bike is unique. It is one of the few times where there is actually more fun in spectating than there is in participating. At least from where I stood.

Anyhow, the organization of the event (by Sarasota cops) was a step below “incredibly poor.” There were no mile markers, bikes were spread out all over the place, and there was no map of the running route.

That lead to a few problems. The huge Red Bull arc was placed not at the finish line but instead just off the beach, about 1/6 mile from the finish. So people like my brother were encouraged by volunteers to sprint to a “finish line” that wasn’t even the finish line.

But the worst part was the fact that the home stretch overlapped with another part of the course. So as my brother was about to actually finish the race, he was instructed to go “another loop” by a volunteer. A different volunteer he talked to had no clue, so my sister-in-law and I actually had to chase him down in flip-flops and instruct him that he simply needed to cross the actual finish line.

Untrained volunteers made the run and race harder and longer than it actually was. No one needs to make tri-atholons any harder than they are. At least I would assume that’s the case.

That’s what folks have always done with the gospel. People have always tried to make the Christian life harder than it is (and its plenty hard without folks adding to it). It started with circumcision in Galatia and I’m sure each following generation has its own attempt to burden those young in the faith. (alcohol, schooling, specific child rearing, cultural retreatism, etc….)

But loving the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, strength and neighbor as ourselves is a 24-7 job. And not easy. Folks that try to add to it are actually forgetting these ‘simple’ words of Jesus. Why would anyone want to make the Christian life harder than it already is?

I have to brag on my Grandma. She’s probably the most loving and self-less person I know. She’s amazing. Yesterday she came down from St. Pete to give Amy a respite. And of course Connar blessed her with a few “blow-ups.” Not sure exactly where those ‘blow-ups’ landed. But since she arrived wearing a wetsuit, I think she was prepared. Actually she wore normal clothes, but was prepared nonetheless.

Anyhow, she has continually served us since we’ve moved to Bradenton. Often she would drive down once a week or every other week to help Amy out in her classroom. While she does live in a condo in St. Pete, with many 55 + neighbors, she has refused to adopt that secluded private 55+ retirement mentality.

She serves her church. Even helps out with refreshments at VBS. She is actually committed, not leaving when others have left. She serves her grandkids. But why do all these things, and just have everyone serve her? I mean, she is a widow. She wouldn’t have it any other way. She finds great joy in serving. She actually wants to hold my screaming, crying baby. Not just when he is cute, quiet, and easy.

Her service is really a win-win. It blesses us. But it also blesses her. She finds her life by giving it away, which is what Jesus promised. And that’s really the most joyful way to live, not to mention the only option that Jesus really gives us. Its a delight to see my Grandma serving us. Not simply because she is serving us (though that’s priceless), but because Jesus is continually filling her with joy.

And that’s the way serving others can be. So here’s to all of you 55+ who have continued serving faithfully (folks do notice it) and setting a good example for us young whipper-snappers. Though someone who can’t wear a visor without getting his head sunburn probably shouldn’t go by whipper-snapper. I hope we all can feel as blessed in our serving as my Grandma does.

Below is a quick but thoughtful response by John Piper on the blessings of checks and balances in the American government. Now I would love to ask him why he’s not Presbyterian then, since both systems function with the same underlying presupposition (the wickedness of the human heart and its need for accountability). But since there are no Baptisterians (presbyterian in government, but hold to believer’s baptism) that I know of, that’s not going to happen. And that’s cool. I’m still down with him. I tried to link to his site, but it wasn’t working. So here it is.

The Supreme Court rendered a decision last week concerning Guantanamo Bay. Unlawful combatants there now have constitutional habeas rights (protection from unlawful detention). The decision was considered a rebuke to the Bush administration and the way the armed services are doing their work under his leadership.

Here is what amazes me and awakens thankfulness in my heart to God. I heard the president from Rome speak these words: “We will abide by the Court’s decision. That doesn’t mean that I have to agree with it.”

Don’t let this go by without wonder and gratitude. Here is the most powerful leader in the world standing in public in the middle of Europe and saying for the whole world to hear that some of his decisions are nullified and his authority is curtailed and that he will submit to it.

Imagine such a thing in Myanmar or North Korea or China or Vietnam or in a half a dozen African regimes. Unthinkable.

What an incredible privilege we have to live in a land where human power is checked.

I believe in the wisdom of this kind of democracy because I believe in the almost unbounded potential of the human heart for evil. Power corrupts. It is biblically wise that there are checks and balances in the American system.

Another reason I believe in the wisdom of such a democracy is that Christian faith cannot be coerced by force, and unbelievers cannot be executed for their unbelief by anyone but the returning King of kings. Therefore, governance that limits the power of men to force faith or kill the faithless is a good thing.

I am thanking God today for the freedoms and the power-restraints of America.

This is a funny little video of Connar’s purring. Hope you enjoy it. Dare I say cute?

Connar had his first vacation this weekend (click here for the pics). A little town called Tampa. My parents headed out of town and my brother-in-law and girlfriend (his, not mine) flew in, so we hit up the North Tampa area for the weekend. On Sunday, I was able to get away to worship. Amy should be back in the saddle by this Sunday. I worshiped at a PCA church plant only a mile down the road from my parents house.

They incorporated a lovely blend of hymns and a few praise songs (one ‘brought me back’ to my youth ministry days) with a modified liturgy. I felt right at home. On top of all that, one of my buddies who I hadn’t seen for a year, just happened to show up for the 2nd week in a row. You see, the previous week a woman passed out during the sermon. The pastor never finished, so my friend and his wife decided to come back this Sunday. Cool providence.

One of the more moving things I witnessed was from a worshiping parent. He was singing lustily and joyfully while holding one of his children: perhaps 3 years old. I’m not really good at guessing ages though. Anyhow, with his face periodically looking at his son, he appeared to me as though he were singing to or singing over him. The child was kind of fidgety and had his hands covering his ears. As though he didn’t want to hear. How’s that for a picture of sin? Covering our ears instead of listening to God singing over us.

But the dad kept singing, and it seemed to calm the child. It reminded me of that verse in Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” As God would have it, the benediction came from this same passage. Cool providence. And how apropos to witness this on Father’s day.

If you’re one of the few, (I wouldn’t go so far as to say “the proud”), who read the Herald (though I personally have nothing against it), then you’ve no need for this link. Obviously you would have read my article in Saturday’s paper. If you’re among the larger percent of the population living outside Manatee County, or neglected this great duty of Geoff’s article reading, you can click here for a link to my article. Due to the fact we have a newborn now living with us, I felt encouraged by all the tired traveleres who’ve traversed this same path. So the article deals with the suffering aspect of fellowship. People need others to share their joy. But folks also need other folks to share in their sufferings, just as Paul instructed us toward the special fellowship of sharing in Jesus’ sufferings. I actually got an email from a reader on the same day it “hit the press.” Not a bad start, eh? Hopefully it will move us all toward deeper community.

I was listening to a lecture the other day by a pastor named Mark Driscoll. I’m usually a huge fan of him. I think his vision for ministry is very much consistent with that of the Reformed tradition of redeeming culture, seeking community and mercy, and transforming the city. And on top of that, I think he is hilarious.

However I learned the danger of idolizing folks as I listened to him defend a minority position on elders. Only men who are married can become elders at his church. He gets this from the elder description passages in I Timothy and Titus as they specify that an elder needs to be ‘a man of one wife.’ I won’t exegete (breakdown and interpret) the passage for you, but will say that I don’t hold his position.

But the problem with Driscoll was not so much that he disagreed with the other pastor he was co-lecturing with. The problem was that he was so stinking arrogant, belligerent, disrespectful, (and had to get the last word in), that I wanted to punch him. I really did.

I felt like throwing away his books, deleting his link on my blog, and telling my father-in-law to disregard another lecture I burned for him where he identified the dangers of the emergent church.

A week later I have calmed down. Well it didn’t take that long, I guess. And I realized two things.

1.) Arrogance and dogmatism on unclear and minority matters will only turn people away from you. And fast.

2.) Idolizing people is dangerous on a variety of fronts (besides the obvious replacement of Jesus with another). I was so angry because I held him in too high an esteem. I had idolized him. He’s a dude with issues. I should have expected him to have weaknesses. I do. And I hope that people don’t throw out everything I say when I’m defensive or respond angrily without grace to something they say.

So I can still learn a bunch from him, without idolizing him or becoming a thoughtless groupie.

Just when I thought my neighbors couldn’t be nicer, another family pulls up in their mini-van and drops off a mini basketball autographed by none other than Dick Vitale. Apparently he is a regular at the First Watch or Broken Egg (where she is a waitress) or something like that in Lakewood Ranch. How cool is that, eh? This neighborhood is definitely a special place and community is forming where there was no community before. Amen.

On Monday I called my neighbor to see what he was up to. A month or two ago he offered to load his pick-up truck bed with nearly a ton of landscaping rocks. So I took him up on his offer. He told me he didn’t have much to do the whole afternoon. And he proved it.

After getting the rocks, he helped me unload them and place them all over the yard. Since he is professedly more anal than I am (not too tough), it was helpful to have someone more skilled, or at least, more attuned to aesthetics. It turned an extremely ugly yard into a decent looking yard.

Then he offered to drive back and grab a bed-full of mulch! So we put half in my yard and I helped him put some in his yard. Talk about a great neighbor. Fortunately I have several great one’s on my cul de sac.

I’ve noticed that doing yard-work puts you in the path of your neighbors, and so is quite a good thing. But I hadn’t ever experienced actually doing yard-work with your neighbors. We had a blast and learned a ton about each other. I’m actually looking forward to helping him lay some sod. Hopefully we’ll do it early in the morning though….