One of the reasons why I needed to get back from vacation was because of a Candidates Committee meeting. I’m the chair of the committee, so it doesn’t look good when I skip it; and I’m not really sure if that’s a possibility anyway. Anyhow, our committee oversees (the best we can) potential ministers who spend time developing their gifts in their respective churches for a season.

In addition to tough oral examinations which require extensive study (so that the minister can articulate difficult theological truths, not just know them), the candidate has to do an internship lasting the equivalent of a year. It is during this time when his gifts are developed, tested, discovered, etc….It may be that the candidate may find things he is not gifted in at all and that may affect his ministry direction. And vice versa.

That’s why its so important to surround this candidate with people who can speak love and truth into his life. What gifts does he display? What are his weaknesses? How are those gifts being developed and tweaked? He can’t do this on his own.

A self-evaluation misses tons of stuff. I mean you really don’t know your weaknesses and strengths, nor can you tell what needs to be improved, perpetuated, dropped unless you have people involved in your life. Ignoring and seeking this feedback time is quite comfortable, but also quite irresponsible.

More than just having a ‘feeling of calling’ or folks who simply say, “You’re our man,” without a season of testing and developing, the candidate can say, “God’s people have seen proof that He has indeed called and gifted me for ministry.” Having this season benefits both the church and pastor, particularly in tough seasons that will certainly lay ahead.

Well, we’re back from St. Augustine and thankful for the ‘mini’-vacation. Always nice to get away for a bit and feel refreshed. Neither of us slept all that well, both because of me. Amy’s pregnancy kept her up, and eating late night white-chocolate peanut butter fudge wasn’t a good idea for me.

Anyhow, I do want to make one last post about the city we left behind. Perhaps the most famous (and my favorite) part of St. Augustine is the fort, also known as Castillo de San Marcos. The cool thing about the fort is that it was attacked numerous times, and even flew several different flags. But those different flags were not the result of breaching the fort. Each one came about by treaty.

The fort was never taken. Even a month’s worth of British canon balls in the 1700’s didn’t do the trick.

The fort was constructed exclusively from coquina: a local rock, fairly soft, and loaded with shells. So when folks fired canon balls, the walls of the fort would literally ‘suck’ them in and be no worse for wear. I can only imagine the frustration of soldiers firing those things for a month.

The bible describes God as a refuge and fortress. Forts today are cool, but they are no big deal. We don’t really need them, so they’re just cool or interesting. Yet for several hundred or so, several hundred years ago, this fort would have been more than a cool thing. It would have been shelter. It would have been a refuge. Folks and even their livestock fled there and found safety during attacks.

Looking at the fort as a monument (knowledge about) and looking at the fort as a refuge (experiential) would give one a totally different perspective. Often times God throws stuff our way so that we would stop simply reading about Him (still a good thing to read the bible, books, blogs, etc…) and start experiencing Him as a refuge. Coming to him out of interest is different than coming out of great need.

But we’re always needy, just sometimes we don’t realize it. However when attacks come, we realize our need, and get to experience and find delight in God as our refuge.

We’re about to check out of our 30 square foot room in about 10 minutes. The stay was nice. The owner of the bed and breakfast was not nice. How do you run a B&B and not be friendly?

Fortunately the Breakfast was also nice. And so were the people eating it (not just Amy and myself). Some of the folks from yesterday were back eating with us this morning. I made the mistake of asking how the Ghost Tour was last night. He then proceeded to tell me of all the ghostly encounters of his own life. Ghosts from both sides of the family. I thought he might stop after one. Then two. Then three. Then four. Then back to the first.

I learned a lot about my listening skills. They are for from perfect. They are far from good, especially when it is material (or immaterial in this case) I don’t care about. But I think we’re supposed to listen as best we can. Why would James 1 tell us to be quick to listen about things we already are ‘in to?’ And I don’t think he’s only referring to sermons or alluding to fishing shows-both of which are easier to listen to then this man.

If nothing else, listening may give us a not-so-abrupt way to change the conversation. And maybe the ‘conversation leap’ from spirits to the Holy Spirit won’t be so large.

Today was a fairly active day, at least fairly active for someone with only 7 weeks left to deliver. We learned a lot about this amazing town, much of which I’d love to share in a different format. Maybe through “face-talking.” Also known simply as talking, or conversation. Someone actually called it that. Crazy.

But for now, I think I know who to ‘blame’ for the phenomenon of Florida winter residence. It is kind of a phenomenon really, even though animals do it. But they don’t have the benefit of actual shelter, heating, grocery stores and the like.

Anyhow, Henry Flagler may be the father of this phenomenon, or behavior, if you want to call it that. In the late 1800’s, Flagler, co-founder of the lucrative Standard Oil Company, erected the lavish, ahead of the times, colossal hotel Ponce de Leon.

If you were loaded, you could come down to this hotel. The catch? You had to stay from January through March. Even if it wasn’t a leap year, that’s a long time. Of course you didn’t have to stay (it wasn’t the Hotel California), but you had to pay for the whole three months up front with cash. So rich northerners often ended up staying the whole three months.

Eventually the Great Depression hit and the hotel lost its luster a bit. But then cold fronts hit too and people made their way farther south. Winter residence soon became a way of life for more than just the wealthy-although I’m still not exactly sure how people swing that. Anyhow, I just found it interesting that Flagler gets credit for a lot of stuff, but not this. He may deserve more credit for other things as well. Amy and I found it interesting since both of us grew up not really hearing much about ‘winter residence.’

Amy and I have finally arrived to the destination of our final pre-baby vacation: a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine. To lessen the chances of being followed by the paparazzi (I spelled that word right on the 2nd try), I checked in under the name of Ron Mexico, since I knew Michael Vick won’t be using that alias for a while.

So far the area looks really old and really cool. Our 30 square foot room should encourage us to take plenty of advantage of the sights instead of lounging around in the room and watching the 9 inch TV.

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the America. And as much as new things tantalize us (I’m blogging just a hundred or so yards away from the old spanish fort), most folks are somewhat attracted by antiquity. This is especially true today: one benefit of our post-modern times.

Though some folks now prefer hymns to newer “guitar-ish” arrangements, one thing that all hymn appreciators-if not aficionados-can agree upon is their rich lyrical heritage.

Now I’m not bashing new worship music. I am saying that just as many folks appreciate historical monuments, more and more people are now appreciating a personal AND historic faith through the vehicle of some great hymns. It’s one way in which we express (and possibly feel) connection to those saints who’ve gone before us. The Church doesn’t have to sing all, or even any of the same songs as they did, but I think singing at least some of those songs helps us realize we are part of the same great story that has been going on for a long time.

In regards to a previous post on licking door knobs, I felt my readers deserved an updated report. The young lad who fell prey to the great temptation of licking door knobs has been out sick the past few days. We’re currently unable to do a biopsy on him to tell if his sickness had anything to do with a week’s worth of door knob licking. However, it is believed (by me) that licking door knobs did play a part. But I do confess that I’m no doctor. He should be fully recovered by the end of Spring Break, back to school, and hopefully keeping his distance from knobs.

On Friday night I DVR’d a special on prostitution in America. It was pretty darn sad of course. And I guess informative. My favorite part was Diane Sawyer’s concluding remarks. She said something to the effect of, “In light of this being Good Friday, let us remember Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery, ‘Let he is without sin, cast the first stone.'”

Now she does have a good point. I need Jesus just as much as those prostitutes. And you do too. If you don’t think so after Sunday, I didn’t do a good job preaching on this subject-or you weren’t there, or weren’t listening. In the latter case it would be your fault, not mine.

Perhaps one of the purposes of the special was to challenge people to respond with compassion instead of condemnation. In that case it worked. I felt sad for these women. Only one really thought it was a noble profession. But I felt saddest for those who left the lifestyle and then returned to it. They tasted freedom and then went back to slavery.

Yet I found those closing words from Diane most thought provoking. People like Jesus’ words when they support their agenda. But they can’t take much of what Jesus says about Hell, or himself being the only way to salvation. These are far less popular, and consequently less quoted.

Now I do like Diane Sawyer the reporter and interviewer. But I have actually seen her oppose any sort of exclusive faith claims before so I know for a fact she wouldn’t be caught dead quoting John 14:6.

But are we that much different than Diane? We may use some more verses, but there’s probably plenty we tend to leave out of our repertoire. Solution? Regularly read the gospels.

The History Channel ran a special on Crucifixion a few days ago. It was very informative, but of course incredibly painful and sorrowful to watch. The amount of suffering associated with the cross is amazing.

They interviewed historians, anthropologists, and a few doctors. Two of the doctors participating in the special took the gospels as gospel-so that was kind of cool, especially for the History Channel.

One fascinating question raised was “what exactly killed Jesus?” A myriad of different things can lead to the death of one crucified (they went into the anatomy of the victim in grim detail), but some doctors really pointed ultimately to one oft ignored (though assumed) incident.

Suffocation, dehydration, exposure, blood loss, or simply ‘dying from pain,’ all could have killed Jesus, but the gospel accounts might indicate something else. Since Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry Jesus’ cross, one could assume that Jesus had fallen (nowhere does it mention that Jesus fell in the accounts, so it is an assumption-but I think a good one). Jesus, carrying a cross bar of 100 lbs or so, would have obviously fallen on his chest, injuring his heart. This would have led to an aneurism.

Since the gospel accounts have Jesus shouting his last words, and then immediately dying, he probably didn’t die of asphyxiation. There wouldn’t have been enough air in his lungs to do that. But instead, he would have been able to feel his heart nearing the end of its beating, and know the end was about to happen (of course he knew everything though). This would have been consistent with an aneurism.

EXACTLY what killed him is not important as much it is fodder for science and experiment. It is important that there was no body for autopsy. However, the awful death and scorn of the Father should never cease to amaze us of the love of one who gave up His only Son that we should live. He that did not spare His own Son, how will he not graciously give us all things? It says that somewhere, you know (Romans 8:32).

For the responsible Calvinist, there is always a tension between resting in God’s providence (His overall involvement of all life) and simply being responsible. Let me give you an example.

God is active in the world and there are times when we will simply allow us to get sick. Nevertheless, it would be foolish not to wash our hands when we go to the bathroom, take out the trash, or leave the gym (the first thing Amy does is reach for and hand me the hand sanitizer!). Failure to do so can expose us to unnecessary germ exposure and lead to sickness.

However even when being as responsible as possible, God still holds the final ‘trump’ card on what will ultimately happen. Regardless of responsibility or lack there0f. One of Amy’s students last week or two has been regularly licking door knobs. This is obviously disgusting. No argument there. But wouldn’t you expect that licking door knobs might get one sick?

Well yesterday there were only 8 kids in Amy’s class. One can assume that most were sick (since it wasn’t raining-a common excuse to stay home), as several actually came to school sick.
But among those in attendance was the door knob licker. He, so far as we could tell suffered no ill effects from his licking. Yet 7 other kids, who abstained from door knob licking (at least for lent) got sick.

Often being responsible doesn’t mean that things will turn out as expected. On the flip side, being irresponsible doesn’t preclude blessing. Fortunately. Regardless of how much I mess up stuff through my irresponsibility, God will still work out all things for my good (conforming me to Christ’s image) and His glory. So I can seek to be responsible and relax. Being responsible shouldn’t make us neurotic or O.C.D. or overly timid. And of course believing in God’s providence shouldn’t make us irresponsible or disobedient (failing to love others, share the gospel, pray, go to church, etc…) either.

Saturday was filled with the unexpected, as is to be expected whenever you try to pull off some sort of ‘event.’ Hard-boiled eggs were breaking like teenage punks under the lights, our pre-separated ‘gospel beads’ turned up missing, some of our help forgot to come, we couldn’t procure our normal bean-bag (kid occupier) game, it never stopped raining, etc….

But despite thoughts to cancel, we had the Easter Outreach Party at our house anyway. The rain dictated that we have most of it actually ‘in our house.’ We swept out the garage and turned it into a 4 square area. That kept the kids occupied for a bit until we headed inside for the gospel lesson.

One of our youth led the gospel bracelet time, where the kids made bracelets with beads of different colors representing a different part of the gospel story (for instance, gold meant God, black-sin, red-Jesus blood, white-cleanness, etc….).

After that we were back to the garage for the egg dyeing. The kids loved it. We had 4 or 5 different students from Amy’s class, but each one brought siblings or cousins. So we had about 10 kids, including 2 from the church. Not as many as last time, but it was well worth it to share the gospel with some kids who don’t usually hear it. And they left wearing the bracelet, something that we hope will continue to point to Jesus as long as they wear it. We’ll see if they’re still on their wrists come Monday.

It was hard work, especially for my pregnant wife, but I’m glad we did it. Seeing youth lead stuff, teach the gospel, and take ownership of the event is totally worth it. But then again, I’m not the pregnant one whose back still hurts!