Becoming Uriah Heep

The hypocritically humble Uriah Heep from Charles Dicken's own favorite, David Copperfield , had good reason to at least feel humble. After all, compared to those around him, his conditions were quite humble.

I can relate to Uriah Heep. Everyone else seems either better off or more gifted than me. Wallowing in the mire of self-deprecation, I can start hating more than just my shortcomings. Of course it starts with hating myself, forgetting that "by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace toward me was not in vain". But with that comes ill feelings towards my classmates, who are ahead of me only because they had better college math teachers than I did. This spills over into anger towards my family for not understanding my needs, my teachers for their inability to teach at my level, and on and on.

A better approach is needed. I must do my best, for when Paul says, "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord", I suppose this includes Calculus, too. But beyond that I am to trust our Sovereign God. His plan cannot be thwarted. And remarkably, He is out for my good. I can trust Him even though the hill is difficult and there any many "signs" telling me to despair and turn some other way.

Falling behind my classmates in every subject is a humbling experience. I am not going to rise to the top of this class. This is true in many other areas of my life. There are many great things that I will never be. But I am comforted by the words of a reformed Scot preacher Andrew Bonar (1810-1892), "The Lord shows me that He wishes me to be one of the common Levites who carry the pins".

After all, the true heroes are not the intellectual geniuses, the sports stars, the bold and the beautiful. But instead, the real heroes, the ones for whom the world is not worthy, are those who diligently seek the one true Rewarder.

I can stop wringing my hands and instead fold them.

Go to the Ant

Kristin spent the day at a Ladies Retreat hosted by the church we've been attending, Covenant Presbyterian. The speaker was Judy Rogers. Our whole family has enjoyed her music since we learned of her during our time in Georgia.

The mothers at this church have been getting together frequently, which has helped Kristin and our children get out of the apartment and make friends. I especially like an exhortation I saw from the pastor's wife. She wrote, "remember to schedule your life
around YOUR church not fit your church into your life's SCHEDULE.:-)".

From Doug Wilson's blog, concerning the Ronald Reagan funeral...

The comment I want to make here concerns that which is before us right now, as we consider the funeral and the events surrounding the funeral. The events of the last week have shown us (in the civil realm) the potency of symbols and the power of liturgy. Ideas are important, and ideas have consequences. But liturgy has consequences also. Liturgy moves people, and it is not an irrational and emotional display when it does so. In many ways, and on many levels, Reagan was a class act. How he has left us has been no exception. This has been a grand example of what C.S. Lewis described with the Middle English word solempne -- a joyful and august solemnity.

The striking thing about this is that it represents the polar opposite of most worship in most evangelical and Reformed churches.

Spankers Need Not Apply

I wrote earlier about the difficulty in finding a trustworthy agency to do our homestudy. Since then we've received the list of adoption agencies that the local Crisis Pregnancy Center uses for referring birthmothers.

Today I contacted two of those agencies. Both look down on any form of "physical discipline". Both think that spanking could be okay if it's a last resort, done with only an open hand (no wooden sticks, etc), and rare (one said 8 times in a childhood).

I understand that these policies are intended to protect the children, who in the case of young children have often been abused by their birth parents. But the policies leave no room for biblical discipline in the adoptive family. And of more concern to me right now, paying a social worker to come to my house for a homestudy and find that we "abuse" our children, is a tremendously risky proposal.

We deeply want to care for and raise another child, especially one who would otherwise be without a loving, Christian family. But we seem blocked by the very folks whose job is to find loving Christian families for needy children.

The 'Nevers' of the Gospel

O Lord, may I,

Never rest in a system of doctrine that does not teach me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, or help me to live soberly, righteously, godly;

Never rely on my own convictions and resolutions, but be strong in thee and in thy might;

Never cease to find thy grace sufficient in all my duties, trials, and conflicts;

Never forget to repair to thee in all my distresses and troubles, in all the dissatisfactions experienced in creature comforts;

Never fail to retreat to him who is full of grace and truth, the friend that loveth at all times, who can do exceeding abundantly for me;

Never confine my religion to extraordinary occasions, but acknowledge thee in all my ways

Never limit my devotions to particular seasons but be in thy fear all the day long;

Amen.

adapted from The Valley of Vision

Witnessing from Weakness

I've been thinking about my classmates here at AFIT. Since we spend so much time together, including lunch most days, it's probably the best assignment I've had to speak of Christ and the gospel. However, since my classmates are all at least a decade past the college years, it would be easy for me to write them off as past their "formative years". But I see no such evangelism-exemption in Scripture.

The more challenging obstacle for me is my class-ranking. Many, perhaps most, of my classmates are better suited than me for a technical master's degree. I am far from being the brightest student in class. Since these folks know me through my performance in class, this will affect my attempts to evangelize. When I witness, it will be from a position of weakness. When I speak to them about the wisdom of God it will be "that guy who we have to help in calculus and programming" who is talking.

Yet, God often honors the efforts of those who are seen as weak by their hearers. Think of Paul before rulers. Or on Mars Hill. Or think of simple fisherman before the Sanhedrin.

This really may be my best opportunity at evangelism.

The Heart of Anger

I appreciate blogs like Buried Treasure that don't hide the fact that neither our children nor us are perfect.

In that spirit, I've mentioned before the struggles we have with sinful anger in our children and our parenting. Kristin and I recently read the only book on this subject I know of, The Heart of Anger, by Lou Priolo.

I was initially skeptical of the book, since most of the Christian "How-To" books seem to forget the gospel. They make you think that if you do these 7 things then your marriage will be better, your job more satisfying, etc. They almost all fail to mention the essential role of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying us, and also the means He primarily uses (the preaching of the Word, the Sacraments, and prayer).

However, this book was good, it avoided those errors more than most. As far as addressing how to avoid sinful anger, I found it helpful. For instance, it pointed out from Proverbs a couple dozen ways that parents can provoke their children to anger.

I also thought the author did well to address the parent's crucial task of ensuring that positive behavior replaces poor behavior. He says, "biblical discipline involves correcting wrong behavior by practicing right behavior, with the right attitude, for the right reason, until the right behavior becomes habitual". For example, when my son says something mean to his sister, he should not only apologize, but also restate his remark to her appropriately (words, tone, and non-verbal communication).

Lastly, I found the book similar in tone and theological perspective to Shepherding a Child's Heart.

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Kyriosity warned me, but it came too late, we had our first adoption meeting with the Lutheran Social Services agency.

I was foolish enough to think that since this was part of the Lutheran church (forgetting altogether about the unorthodoxy of some Lutheran denominations), they would have a Biblical approach to their homestudy.

We met with one of their social workers to understand their homestudy process. Since spanking would come up in the homestudy, I asked upfront about their view; I expected a Christian explanation. But what I got was the view of any government social worker...."There is always a better option than physical punishment (their term). Perhaps as a last resort, but there is always a better way..."

He then went on to say (warn?!) that another family, who had applied to be a foster family, was discovered to have spanked their children. That family lost permission to foster or adopt and are currently under investigation.

This agency seems to me to be just a government agency with "Lutheran" as their first name.

Why is it so hard to find someone to do a homestudy from a Biblical perspective?

Sorry for the lack of posting. Most of my wrestling this week has been with calculus. We've covered 23 chapters in 4 days of class. And since the last time I thought about a derivative was 11 years ago, I'm having trouble keeping up.

Repentance

Again today I read a statement that I often encounter, "this [book, message, etc] is for Christians. If you haven't repented and accepted...". So often we seem to be told that a Christian is someone who has repented and believed the gospel [past tense]. This lacks humility and is a dangerously-incomplete confession of the faith. A Christian is someone who repents and believes [present tense]. Chief sinners, like us, should also be chief repenters.

Tonight during family worship my son showed repentance in a prayer for God to make him kinder to his family. We do struggle with sibling rivalry and with radically different personalities in our children. Tonight it struck me that Kristin and I have been so focused on correcting him that we are not also remembering to enjoy him.

It was refreshing for us to hear him repent tonight, now he needs to hear his parents do the same.

Summary of Biblical Theology

I became interested in this book because of the influence the author had on my pastor. I found his redemptive-historical preaching style to be powerful and engaging and I wanted to know what "redemptive-historical" meant.

Biblical Theology is Special Revelation told as epic history. It's somewhere between exegesis and systematic theology. It tracks the growth or development of the gospel in the Scriptures over time. Importantly, it relieves, to some extent, the unfortunate tendency to rely upon proof texts when defining fundamental doctrines. Instead, it traces these truths throughout the whole of the Bible.

Starting with pre-redemptive special revelation (e.g. creation), everything disclosed here is largely symbolical. Don't misconstrue this to mean that the events weren't actually real. It's real symbolism embodied in actual things. The symbols are not expressed in words so much as in tokens. These tokens prefigure and convey assurance concerning the future realization of the things symbolized.

In early redemptive relevation (the Fall to pre-Flood), it's important to note that here, as in all of the Old Testament, the concept of a personal Messiah is approached very gradually. It sufficed for fallen man to know that through His divine power and grace God would bring victory over the serpent. In that faith could rest. The object of their faith was much less defined than ours. But none the less, the essence of this faith was the same, trust in God's grace and power to bring deliverance from sin.

In Noachian revelation, note the rapid development of sin's power. In the first generation after Adam you already have murder. Sin proves powerful enough to prostitute the gifts of God's common grace. Soon there is no trace of the sense of sin in Cain's line. In Seth's line, the continuity of redemption is stressed. But even the good kept alive is not enabled to force back evil. While the power of redemption remained stationary, the power of sin waxed strong. Once the Sethites and Canites intermarry, the continuity of God's work appeared in danger, and the lesson of the destructive power of sin had been fully taught, the time had come to teach the finishing lesson of the judgment.

During the Patriarchal period, God checks the power of sin (e.g. division of tongues) and the actual beginning of the people of God, the first embodiment of objective religion, the nucleus of the Church is found with the call of Abram. The idea of faith suddenly springs into prominence. The patriarchs learned that God reserved to Himself the fulfillment of the promises (e.g. great nation, land, blessing to all people). They had learned to look upward to a form of possession of the promises identified closely with God Himself, instead of just a temporal fulfillment by possessing Canaan, etc.

Revelation in the time of Moses, consisting of the theocracy, typifies the perfected kingdom of God. When apostasy on a general scale took place, they could no longer remain in the promised land. The history of Israel was shaped by God intentionally so as to mirror all important situations befalling the people of God in all subsequent ages.

Prophetic revelation guarded the unfolded theocracy in order to keep it a true representation of the kingdom of Jehovah.

New Testament revelation, contained the speech of the Son, and so no higher speech was possible. It includes the Apostles, who are witnesses and interpreters of the Christ. Jesus regarded the whole Old Testament movement as a divinely directed and inspired movement, as having arrived at its goal in Himself. In His numerous appeals to Scripture, Jesus shows the Scriptures are a book for the people and that they cannot be broken (Jn 10:35).

This may be my longest post ever, so if you read this far, I hope you have a refreshed sense of the majesty and the oneness of the Scriptures.

Geerhardus Vos (1870-1949) is the author of Biblical Theology.

Adoption Options

We've found a couple different adoption agencies here that we think are worthwhile. Since we only plan to do the homestudy and post-adoption follow-up locally (our plan is to use an agency called Special Link for actually adopting a child), we're trying to decide who locally should do the homestudy. We've ensured that the homestudy will be conducted on biblical grounds (e.g. spanking is biblical not abusive, etc), so the real decision is, to which agency do we want to write a fat check?

One option is a small business ran by a Christian lady. Another is a Lutheran agency. We probably can't go wrong with either one, but we're wondering who should have the primary role for ensuring that we're a good family to adopt a child? It seems to us that this is more of a responsibility of the church, rather than just a state-certified agency. So I hope to involve our church in our homestudy. We're open to other thoughts.

Church Invitations

Part of a new assignment is getting out-of-the-blue invitations from people I meet to attend their church. Usually I know that their church wouldn't be a good fit for my family, but I appreciate the person's invitation. But conveying this can be difficult.

Today while entering an auditorium for a briefing I was invited to a large Baptist church. I only had a moment to reply, so I said, "How's the preaching?" His brief response painted a sad picture all too common today.

"Well, it's okay", my friend said a little surprised at my question, "the preaching is not very deep. You get that in a small group which meets during the week".

I declined the invite, but not without feeling blue for those that worship at a place that minimizes the preached Word.

Revenge of the Nerds?

As my first week here at the Air Force's Institute of Technology progresses, I'm struck at how single-faceted this place is. Like the city of Oz where everything is green, everything here is only hi-tech. The school library is a 3-story modern facility, but only stocked with technical books and journals. Books, books everywhere and not a drop [of literature] to drink! I'm not surprised that there are no liberal arts degrees here, but it seems there would be value in at least some liberal arts classes. The only offering that comes close is a single elective on just-war theory. The military instructors are uniformed, but otherwise, stereotypical 10-pound brains. Yesterday, the faculty seemed to enjoy giving us a "diagnostic" math exam containing 50 advanced calculus problems. I might have scored a 10% on it. This is the revenge of the nerds.

More than grumbling, I hope to raise a point while I'm here that the military relies too much on technology to win our nation's wars. While effective in destructive power and precision, it only forces our enemies to wage asymmetrical warfare. And at this our technology is unable to bring closure to a conflict.

To balance our approach to warfare, we need to comprehend a culture where religion is not just an individual, private thing, as it is here. Our western leaders need to fathom a society knitted together by a single religious conviction, as we see in the Islam of our enemies. If we can't understand our enemy, but instead rely only upon our technology to kill them all, I'm afraid we can't find peace, much less victory.

I'm no Doug Phillips

Doug Phillips has posted some great photos of a recent family trip cross-country. Looks like they had a lot more fun than we did! I didn't follow through with an early plan to stop along the way at state parks and maybe even hit a Roadfood restuarant.

Instead I reverted back to going after the land speed record. The worst part of the trip: lunch at a Burger King/gas-station along I-65 somewhere in Tennessee. There ought to be a law...fast food is bad enough already without the gas station atmosphere.

Some highlights from the trip: Kudos to the road engineers who laid out the approach into Cincinnati on I-75. The city is completely masked by some foothills until you round a bend in the road and then all of a sudden there it is in full view down in the valley just across the Ohio river.

I also greatly benefited from listening to the lectures on "America's Wars--a Biblical overview and evaluation" produced by Canon Press. I hope to bring up some of the points here in an elective course on Just War Theory. Thanks go to the BadgerMum for recommending them.

Living in Ohio

Our move back North was a good one. We packed six weeks of provisions into the car and van; enough to last us until we move into a house in July. For the time being we've rented a furnished apartment.

I had doubts about my 13 year old car making one more cross-country drive. Over the last 10 years it's gone from Alabama to San Antonio. From there to New Jersey. Then over to Illinois. Next down to Georgia. But even loaded down with stuff, including our confused Border Collie and son it made it up the hills of Tennessee and across the fields of Kentucky. God is good. I did have to turn-off the air conditioner on steeper climbs to keep up speed. I also found that sunflower seeds are good for fighting off the "sleepies" during long stretches.

Regrettably, we said good-bye to our Georgia church family (and the wonderful worship); but there are some promising options here, too. Both Kristin and I are longing to get settled and plugged-in again. It's tough to always be starting-over.

Today was the first day at AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology); I saw several familiar faces from previous assignments. It's fun to catch up.

I also finally finished Biblical Theology by Vos. I hope to post some thoughts on it in the near future.

Cardboard Cottage

I type this from what is left of our home. Except for the computer, everything else that will fit has been taped shut inside a hundred or so cardboard boxes stacked throughout this house.

There are a 100 things flying around in my mind that I should be doing, but I'd like to record a portion of the remarks I made at my farewell luncheon.

After I led a toast to my co-workers, I sought to honor Christ with these words,

"Any success I've achieved in this job I owe in large part //large part// to Christ. This has been my favorite job in the Air Force, even though it has been stressful at times. I've had one other stressful job, that was flightline maintenance. Over time the pressure got to me. It made me defensive, cynical, bitter, cold. It got to the point that my supervisor counseled me on my bad attitude. And he was right!

"For those that know me, if that surprises you, I want to explain the two most important things I've learned about work during the last year or so. First, the Bible encourages hearty, diligent, excellent work. My God does all things well, and so should I. Second, and don't miss this, I'm slowly learning how not to work or expect affirmation from people or personal reward. Don't get me wrong! These things are good and we supervisors should reward our people. But the point is we don't always get it right. How much better it is that I get to entrust myself to One who judges justly!

"So those two things: Excellent work, Trusting One who judges justly; have kept me from that bad attitude that ruled me before.

"I don't say these things to lecture you, but as a simple way for me to honor Christ. I think some of you have enjoyed working with me or have enjoyed the fruits of my labor. I want you to know it's only because of Christ that you have enjoyed that. If it wasn't for His work it would have been a whole different experience."

All is Well?

This e-mail was sent last week to over 10,000 people that work on Robins Air Force Base, my current home:

"All Robins Personnel,
In light of concern regarding the safety of your children within the Houston County School System, Mr. Carpenter, Houston County School Superintendent, informs that all is well. He appreciates all your inquiries and wants you to know that there was only one isolated event at Warner Robins High School and it was handled quickly and effectively. Please be assured that your children are safe and doing fine today."


I asked around and learned that in the last two weeks the local high school has had 3 attempted suicides and one actual. They've also found a horde of guns and ammo in a student's car, plus one gun in the school building.

Break Camp

My posts will be few and far between until we are settled in Ohio.

We break camp next week when the movers show and then we'll put Georgia in the rear-view mirror.

A Call to Be a Computer Geek?

Dumbfounded by the Air Force's decision to send me to school for a computer science degree, something alien to my background, perhaps God is now letting me in on a little of His plan...

This week I heard that missionary-candidates in the '70s and '80s were trained in agriculture so they could sow the gospel seed with unreached people while also teaching them to farm. That's now passe, in part because the big food conglomerates, like ADF, have moved in. And a small missionary team can't compete with something that big.

These days more and more candidates are brushing up on their calculus and computer skills. Many of the unreached people groups need and want these skills in order to move to a city and find steady work. So perhaps the missionary spark that God has lit in our hearts will be fanned into flame through something as mundane as differential equations and Java.

After all, it is His math.

God Bless You

"Cursed be everyone who curses you,
and blessed be everyone who blesses you!" (Gen 27: 29)

One of the themes my pastor has traced through Genesis is the passing of the "blessing-bearer" torch from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. God dealt with others based on how they dealt with his blessing-bearer. For instance, when Pharaoh took Sarai, all the wombs of his household were closed. Lot parts from Abraham and ends up in Sodom.

Ultimately the blessing-bearer torch belongs to Abraham's seed, Jesus. It stops with him. Whoever blesses him will be blessed; whoever doesn't will be cursed.

People want their house to be blessed, their children to be blessed, their job to be blessed. But they don't bless Christ, meaning they don't live in a way that honors Him. If we want the blessing of God we must bless Jesus, the blessing-bearer.

Every Idle Word

A collage of interesting things I heard throughout the day...

Farewell Speech from a Captain
My friend's farewell luncheon was today; it was well attended. He's a PCA guy and has done well at work. His farewell remarks were polished and moving. But I was a little disappointed that he didn't work any gospel into his remarks. That does take some guts and more discretion.

I'll have my chance in a couple of weeks. I've been told that when God gives you a canon, you fire it. That's what I plan to do.

Commander's Call
The new General on base remarked, "My priorities are faith, family, Air Force. You might be surprised to hear a General Officer put service to his nation in third place. But if my top two priorities aren't right, then #3 can't be done well."

"I make tough choices on these priorities every day. Friday I had to choose between going to my son's baseball game or attending a gathering of 600 volunteers on our base. This time I chose to be with my son. He says I don't do that enough."

[I liked his point. Saying you have priorities is easy, but they're proven through tough choices that pit one priority against the others. But, I wished he would have proven that faith is his first priority with an example of it bumping everything else.]

Two Men on a Bus
Man 1: "Now that we have super churches there's a lot more offered. There are courses on Finances, Marriage...so many things the small churches haven't had."
Man 2: "What do the big churches use?"
Man 1: "They buy the books for you. The little churches can't do that. They just teach from the Bible."
Man 2: "I guess there's a place for that, too."
Man 1: "Yeah, there is a time for that. But the books have direct quotes from the Bible. Plus they also have really helpful thoughts on all kinds of topics, too."

Urban Legends of Evangelicalism

17. One way to share the Gospel is to say, "ask Jesus into your heart".
FALSE!
This is a sub-Christian euphemism, foreign to the Scriptures. Better would be: "today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

18. God's love is unconditional
FALSE!
Unconditional love is a farce. God's love is completely conditioned upon Christ.

19. God loves you just the way you are
FALSE!
God loves you the way Christ is. We please God by relying on His grace to make us like His Son.

Graduation Celebration

In recognition of Eli finishing kindergarten in a couple of weeks, I'm planning his first camping trip. We'll spend one night deep in the woods of Georgia with some other fathers and sons from the church. The next day we'll catch a Ranger (as in US Army Ranger) demonstration.

The Ranger demo sounds exciting: patrol insertion from a Blackhawk, rappelling, climbing, mountain rescue, hand-to-hand combat, and free-fall parachute jumping. Static displays include helicopters, night-vision devices, weapons, and parachutes.

Tents, campfires, and handgrenades; what could be more exciting?

Stranger in a Strange Land

It's no surprise that we swim against the tide of pop culture. We are the "called out" ones. However, it is startling to look up from your swim-lane and find you're on a dramatically different course than most of the church around you.

Let's face it, just affirming covenant baptism and rejecting Left Behind puts you in a statistically-insignificant group. Then throw in worship convictions, education convictions, etc. That's one more reason why I like blogs--they help connect me to others in some meaningful way.

Although the path of sanctification has taken some surprising turns over the last year, I feel good about it. In my less-reformed past the teaching was milky, so much so it was easy to become somewhat of an expert milkman. Now I see so much to be learned I don't feel qualified to teach on much at all. Before, my leisure time largely mirrored the world's; now much richer things captivate me. Before, the gospel seemed like the ABCs; now it's the A-Z.

What Do I Do Now?

My colonel retired Friday. His charisma was unmatchable; think "most popular guy in high school" and that's him at 40-something. He'd motivate you from a top the conference room table during staff meeting. He'd cut a flip on the way to the podium just to "set the stage". His wit and charm earned him the tite, "Mr. Hollywood". He's a powerful leader. But he's also honestly mistaken. During officer calls he'd boldly and repeatedly state that family (his wife and two kids) has not been first; the Air Force is. It wasn't a confession but a proclamation. He echoed this during his retirement reception, with his wife sitting in the front row.

At least he's honest, many men say that family is first but their life proves otherwise. For my colonel, now that he's retired, it'd be interesting to know how his family adjusts to his re-entry after 26 years. But, like most "successful" men, it probably won't take long for him to find something else to make first.

Speaking of "what do I do now", after a cram-packed year I finished my last Air Command and Staff College exam today! My evenings are free again! Well, that is, until I become a full-time student in June for a year.

I, like Jacob in Esau's Garment

After a powerful sermon today from Genesis 27:1-29, where Jacob deceives his father and receives the blessing intended for Esau, I think a highly unusual foray into poetry may be in order.


I, like Jacob in Esau's garment
went into my Father's room.

He smelled the smell of my elder brother
that covered my stench of doom.

Dressed in the garb of Father's favorite
I receive what I am not due.

O rightful Son of the Father,
blessed be everyone who blesses you!

Mrs. Wrestling Mat Goes to the Laundry Mat
By Kristin, earlier this week

Of all the things to do today I dreaded having to do laundry! Did I forget to mention that the man came to repair the washer on Monday and ended up taking it back to the shop with him? Worse than he thought--Thursday is the projected date of return. I drove by a run down laundry mat on the way to library story hour and cringed. UGH! No way did I want to do that!

At the library, Hope, my new friend that homeschools and has kids in gymnastics class with us at the YMCA, mentioned that she saw a new laundry mat by Hwy 96 when I was bemoaning that I didn't want to, but after 5 days, I had to do laundry.

You would have thought it was CHUCK E CHEESE or something. All 3 of the kiddos had a blast. The laundry place was nice, clean, and....fun. It had regular washers, washers for double loads, and giant washers for doing a triple sized load!

We did a double load of whites and a (OH BOY!) triple load of darks. The kids had a blast loading the washers with clothes and then QUARTERs! Eli did not want to leave to get lunch! But I loaded the kids back into the car, went through the golden arches drive thru, returned to finish watching the clothes spin (Isaiah reported if there were bubbles or just water), and urged the kids to please eat their lunch so we could go home. Then I buckled the younger two in the van and had Eli be my door holder. He asked if we could come back again. I said hopefully not as the washer will be back on Thursday. Both he and Grace said they thought their clothes would really need washing as they really wanted to come back.

Out of Egypt

My favorite summation of the gospel was: God's sovereignty, Man's sinfulness, Christ's sufficiency. Nothing wrong with that, but I've been won over to the way my pastor preaches the gospel to believers, it goes something like this:

We're all born in Egypt, not the place, but the condition--in slavery to sin. God intervened and delivered us from that bondage and oppression. He's taking us to the Promised Land, which is the New Heavens and New Earth. But for now we're in the wilderness. It's a hard place. The temptation is to go back to Egypt, or to stay and gut it out here in the wilderness. But we're called to believe God's promises. He's proactively out for our good. He won't count our sins against us. He'll defeat all His and our enemies. He will finish the job.

No surprise that this pastor is most at home preaching from the "Older Testament", as he calls it. You can't swing a dead cat in there without hitting the gospel.

Me and My Bible

So many important things that I've never heard before come from my pastor these days. I hope to record a few here in upcoming posts.

He says we properly understand Scripture through three lenses: the text, historical understanding of the text (e.g. creeds, catechisms), and our present community (e.g. our particular church, the era and culture we live in, etc). If we minimize historical understanding, as so many do these days, we're bound to goof up the meaning of the text.

I've been part of churches that strived to be "Sola Scriptura", but in actuality I think were closer to "me and my Bible". There's a big difference between the two. These churches (and I) failed to account for the affect that our cultural presuppositions have on our comprehension of the text. This is why historical understanding is so important. We need 2,000 years worth of Christian thought to properly balance and guide our understanding of Scripture safely through our own time and culture.

Why I Write

Today is the first anniversary of this blog. Seems like a good time to think through why I write.

I write for myself. Blogging is a good forcing function for meditating on the Scriptures and life "under the sun". It helps me capture a fleeting thought. Writing forces the thought to take shape. My 6-year old son isn't content to watch butterflies flitter across our yard. Net in hand, he runs off intent to catch and understand them. Likewise, the Scriptures shouldn't just "walk by" me during a morning devotion, it's better that I wrestle them throughout the day. A morning devotion starts the match, the evening blog entry ends the bout.

I write for others. We're called to edify, and I see a need for this in the blogosphere. Most blogs about discipling a family belong to the ladies (and my wife and I profit greatly from them). As far as I can find, the majority of blogging men focus on theological, cultural, or political hot buttons. There's a place for that, but we could use more manly blogs that reflect a father's heart turned towards his family. I try to contribute to that need.

Humbled by Adversity, We Learn the Deception

At work I have my cross to bear--difficult people, broken processes, broken people, and difficult processes. At home, my wife bears a heavier cross--difficult neighbors, broken appliances, a broken body, and difficult children. And some days they all misfire at once.

Yet the heaviest cross is mine, and it's that I cannot take Kristin's cross from her. But what I should do, and a good head of home will do, is ensure that she is bearing only the cross God gives. Neither I, nor anyone else, should add to it. But I must call her to take up her cross and follow Christ.

Calvin is especially strong here. Here are powerful reasons for bearing your cross, excerpted from his Institutes (Book 3).

REASON 1: Our Cross Conforms Us to Christ
"Though the Son was dear to the Father above all others, the Son in whom he was "well pleased," yet we see, that far from being treated gently and indulgently, we may say his whole life was nothing else than a kind of perpetual cross. Why then should we exempt ourselves from that condition to which Christ our Head behoved to submit? It affords us great consolation in hard and difficult circumstances, which men deem evil and adverse, to think that we are holding fellowship with the sufferings of Christ; that as he passed to celestial glory through a labyrinth of many woes, so we too are conducted thither through various tribulations.

REASON 2: Our Cross Rids Us of Self-Confidence
"Since we indulge a stupid and empty confidence in the flesh, God visits us with disgrace, or poverty, or bereavement, or disease, or other afflictions. Feeling altogether unable to support them, we forthwith, in so far as regards ourselves, give way, and thus humbled learn to invoke his strength, which alone can enable us to bear up under a weight of affliction. Humbled by adversity, we learn the deception. It is surely plain how necessary it is for us to bear the cross. It is of no little importance to be rid of your self-love, and made fully conscious of your weakness; so impressed with a sense of your weakness as to learn to distrust yourself so as to transfer your confidence to God, reclining on him with such heartfelt confidence as to trust in his aid, and continue invincible to the end, standing by his grace so as to perceive that he is true to his promises, and so assured of the certainty of his promises as to be strong in hope.

REASON 3: Our Cross Frees Us From Half-Hearted Joy
"God well knows how strongly we are inclined by nature to a slavish love of this world, in order to prevent us from clinging too strongly to it, he employs the fittest reason for calling us back, and shaking off our lethargy. Our stupidity! Our minds are so dazzled with the glare of wealth, power, and honours, that they can see no farther. The heart also, engrossed with avarice, ambition, and lust, is weighed down and cannot rise above them. In short, the whole soul,
ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth. To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries."

We have a tendancy to want to throw-off our cross, thinking we'll then enjoy a better life. But, how useful and beneficial our crosses are to the good life! "We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 24:22)

Contrasts

To Our Children at Sunrise (joyfully): "He is risen. He is risen indeed!!!!"

To Our Children at Sunset (sternly): "Pick out your [chocolate] bunny NOW!@#!"

The "already and not yet" of the Gospel...I need it today as much as any other.

Easter Presents

- Justification! (Rom 4:25)
- Our faith is not in vain (1 Cor 15:17)
- Preaching is not in vain (1 Cor 15:14)
- The power of sin is DEAD! (Rom 6:11)
- Born again to a living hope... (1 Pet 1:3-5)
-- to an inheritance that is unfading!
-- kept for us in heaven, guarded by God
- Seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6)
- Promised to appear with Him in glory! (Col 3:4)
- Those who fall asleep in Christ have not perished! (1 Cor 15:18)
- Our lowly bodies will be transformed like His glorious body! (Phil 3:20)

(based on Heidelberg Catechism #45, "How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?")

The City That is to Come

We're back from the Dayton house-hunting trip. The highlight of the week was clearly the Lord's Day. We enjoyed worship at Covenant OPC, met many new folks, and had dinner & family worship with some new friends. I hope our kind hosts won't mind me recounting a little event that particularly impressed Kristin and me. We're gathered around the piano singing Psalm 4. The wife is playing and singing. The husband is singing in harmony. (Kristin and I are trying to hit a note here and there as we're able). I understand little about music, but I believe the wife wrote the tune that we sang, which to me is an inscrutable skill. But what really impressed us was her ability while playing her own tune on the piano and singing harmony with her husband, to also make quick yet subtle use of her elbows, effectively keeping her littlest children's fingers from sneaking onto the keyboard. That's real mommy-talent.

The house-hunting was hectic--200+ Majors all reporting on the same day, combing the few available rentals. But God was kind to us, and in the end we signed a lease on a fine house in Fairborn, very close to the base. Interestingly, there's 2 other homeschooling families on our street.

To ease our nerves after the first day of fruitless searching, we found this, "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" (Heb 13:14). The magazines from Dayton's department of tourism make the town look like a great place, yet we're reminded that the closest we can be to our true home is the visible church. And we can rest assured that God will richly provide this for us.

We're Off to See the Wizard...er...Scarecrow

Tomorrow we'll start our house-hunting trip to Dayton, Ohio. First stop will be Birmingham, AL to drop off the children with Kristin's parents! This will be the first time in six years that Kristin and I have been together without our little ones. What an awkward feeling this will be! No interstate exit-hunts for a McDonalds with a playland! No crowded hotel-room! No hours of kiddie-music!

Lord willing (...and we remember to change the clock!) we'll worship at Covenant OPC this Lord's Day. We also look forward to meeting Barb and making some new friends.

Fruit Trees

Tonight my pastor taught me a great deal about the gospel, in about 15 seconds. It's no quick fix. It's no magic formula. My struggle against sin is not all over in a day. Instead, the gospel chips away at my sinful nature. It molds me. Shapes me. Little by little.

This encourages me in my wrestling match against pride, anger, slander, lust, etc, etc; for I am corrupt in all of my being, just as the children's catechism says. To flee, cling, and rest on God is all I can do. And through my trials, God will sustain me, sinful nature and all, while He slowly perfects and renders fruit of holiness out of me.

"God is a gardener; He grows trees. He doesn't sell canned fruit. What He produces takes time and He is glorified by the process often more than the product." Russel Kelfer

Chesteron remarked, "You can easily imagine trees not growing fruit; you can imagine them growing golden candlesticks or tigers hanging on by the tail. A tree grows fruit because it is a magic tree."

While I'm more apt to produce tigers-by-the-tail, God can bring even fruit of holiness out of me.

The Easy Life

School registration opened yesterday. Several co-workers, parents of pre-K children, actually camped out in the public school parking lot over the weekend to ensure their 4 year old got a slot. Meanwhile, we're struggling with our 4-year old, who has been especially difficult lately. The easy life calls.

My colonel's retirement golf outing was also yesterday. Nice, large houses and new cars surrounded me for several hours. Conversation centered on the refined swing, the best golf clubs, and the right country clubs. The easy life calls.

I have the means to lead my family to an easy life. We could spend more on ourselves while posturing to spend retirement collecting seashells in Florida. I could make my wife's life especially easier right away by freeing her of homeschool duties.

But the things that people say will make us all happier I don't think really will. Big houses, expensive cars, kids off to school, double-income--if this is the easy life, it's only so for a while.

There's the importance of delayed gratification. Not gratification in fine houses and possessions, but in wisdom that only comes through tribulations and gratification in godly children, well-raised.

Gone Fishin'
by Kristin

Once again Tim took the older kids fishing after dinner. Sunday night they went to Luna Lake, and Isaiah and I played on the playground while they fished. This time they went to Duck Lake. Isaiah and I went to the commissary (milk, oatmeal, and raisins) and then stopped by to see what they had caught.
They had caught nothing, but were having a grand time. The little boat Eli made was sailing fine. Eli wanted to do something with it so he asked if Isaiah could hold his fishing pole. After about a second of holding it, the bob went down. Isaiah started to reel it in. Then I helped him reel in his first fish! He was so excited! It was a little brim. I wished I had a camera! The kids were so excited for him.
Grace is determined to catch one next time. She keeps feeding them her worms--loses the fish as she reels it in.

(Isaiah is 22 months old)

Exit Strategy

Those who exit a worship service before it's over for no obvious reason puzzle me. Today our pastor gave a passionate plea (his word) for baptized believers to participate in the Lord's Supper. Oddly enough, as soon he finished his remarks several folks slipped out. Were his words just empty platitudes? I didn't think so. And "slipped out" is too mild. They gathered their purses and things and, in some cases, walked the length of the sanctuary. Quite distracting.

True, they could have good, yet discrete, reason for doing so. But for all I know they were hustling out to grab lunch and get to the Cherry Blossom festival or a soccer match. In any case, it's hard to imagine another event beating out the Lord's Supper. Here is Jesus, with us like no other place this side of eternity, giving us the strength to make it. What could pull them away?

A few more folks head out at the start of the last hymn. I think too beat the rush, which is what I do at most sporting events. But this too is distracting and reflects that they've had enough worship.

Many more get ansy at the benediction. Sit in the back of the sanctuary and you'll get a good view of "the benediction shuffle". Upper bodies bob down to get Bibles and purses. Heads nod in silent agreement about which way to exit the pew. Keys make a muffled jingle.

A recent Basement Tape recommended a remedy to the shuffle. Grab your children's or spouse's hand and raise it so that you're focused on receiving the blessing of the benediction.

If we can't wait to the end of a worship service, how well can we wait on God the rest of the time?

Leader’s Guide

As one who is slowly seeing the folly of my evangelical lifestyle, developing proper convictions is a most difficult task. And leading my family to understand them is tougher still.

Oodles of choices frequently present themselves as convictions for us to either affirm or reject: educational approaches, military commitment, large family, transracial adoption, paedocommunion (and a host of other worship issues), political parties, etc.

I sense danger on all sides. I could spend my hours naval-gazing yet deciding nothing. But convictions adopted in haste are sure to turn me into a thunder-puppy, wasting my hours shouting down thunder puppies of the opposing pack.

One thing is clear. Before adopting a conviction I should know its place in the gospel. If I can’t explain why I believe something in a way that shows it is part of the gospel then I don’t understand it or the gospel well enough. The less essential a conviction is to the gospel the less valuable it is. My life’s focus must be on believing the right gospel, without stopping short of its fullness or going too far.

This is also the guide for leading a family. A fast, but wrong, way to attempt change in a family is through a kind of gospel-less law. “You will homeschool”. “You will submit to me”, etc, etc. But rather than domination, I am to lead by the gospel, teaching my wife and children how our convictions fit into our gospel understanding.

Treasure Trove

Today is the blogathon at Buried Treasure in support of the Highlands Study Center. There'll be a new post every half hour!

Spring in the Swampland

We’re enjoying a gentle Spring in Georgia. But with it come the snakes and mosquitoes. While I coached from my office phone, Kristin gathered up her courage, and a tree shovel, and crushed the head of the serpent that had slithered into her flower bed. And we’re back to coating ourselves with bug spray. I don’t mean to sound like a sourpuss; really, I like Spring. But it also gives me the chance to answer a common question from the children, “Why did God make pests like snakes and mosquitoes?”

I won’t go for an exhaustive answer, but here’s what I emphasize. As much as we enjoy the beauty of God’s creation this time of year, the pests, allergies, and other annoyances remind us that God is even more enjoyable, more beautiful, and more delightful than the finest Spring day. Creation, as it now stands, is spoiled. But our Creator remains unspoiled and full of delight!

"The Son breaks out in glory when he shows himself as one who outshines all creation." (Valley of Vision, pg 26)

A Slip of the Tongue

At a military social last week I asked about a group joke that I didn't get. It dealt with the Austin Powers movies which I haven't seen. I then made my mistake. Some self-righteous sounding quip escaped off my tongue. Since then my brief remark has led some co-workers to view me as one of those "holier-than-thou Fundamentalists". And some rather nasty slander has gotten back to me.

It's surprising how a year's worth of effort to avoid this stereotype was so easily erased by a little slip of the tongue.

The Power of Sympathy

Great encouragement came this morning by meditating on a remark in Hebrew 4:15 that Christ "sympathizes with our weaknesses". Calvin, and others, comment that weaknesses include the feelings of the soul, such as fear, sorrow, dread, and similar things.

Calvin adds:

"Whenever we labor under the infirmities of our flesh, let us remember that the Son of God experienced the same, in order that he might by his power raise us up, so that we may not be overwhelmed by them."

"These infirmities Christ of his own accord undertook, and he willingly contended with them, not only that he might attain a victory over them for us, but also that we may feel assured that he is present with us whenever we are tried by them."

In my weaknesses, Christ raises me up, attains victory over them for me, and is present with me through them! I rejoice to be under the care of one too tender to crush, too kind to injure, too powerful to leave me to wallow in my weaknesses.

Maledictory Monday

Jesus' maledictions often worry me when I reflect on discipling my family.

Are we going to great lengths ("crossing sea and land") to homeschool our children, only to make them twice as much children of hell as they would otherwise be? Am I tying-up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and laying them on my wife's shoulders without lifting a finger to help? What if, having driven one unclean spirit from my house, seven others enter in and dwell here?

These are fears of the future. When the seeds that I'm planting now sprout, what will they be? Thorns & Thistles!?!

How I need the gospel! God is proactively out for my good. His promises are for me and my children, "the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children!. (Ps 103:17)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits!" (Ps 103:2)

Half-Berean

Our senior pastor is out of town, so our new assistant pastor has this week's teaching and preaching responsibilities. On Wednesday he taught on "the unbiblical idea of seeking God's will". Even before he introduced his first point someone objected. And after his lesson more emotive objections were voiced.

Public rejection of teaching is sometimes necessary. But I've been in many churches where the rejection is often premature. Most of the time it takes place in a small group setting where submission to an authority's teaching is intentionally minimized or even ridiculed. This attitude is often justified as being "Berean".

The Bereans were commended for two reasons. We all know the part about "examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were correct." But it seems we have collective-amnesia, forgetting that first they, "received the word with all eagerness." (Acts 17:11)

When listening to the teaching of a God-ordained authority is my attitude full of eagerness in what I am receiving? True, there are times when I'm hungry for bread, but I get a stone instead. But how many times have I been offered bread, yet was too skeptical to receive it? The truth is that, at best, many of us are only half-Berean.

Adventures in Babysitting

Our babysitter is a nice, quiet, homeschooled girl with 7 siblings. But despite all she's seen in her household, she's adding some stunning experiences thanks to our children:

Tonight at the park our 4-yr old slid down a slide so fast it made her poop in her pants. A first for daughter.

Last time, my 20 month old son planted his head in the sand after falling off the top of said slide. A first for youngest son.

Also last time, they all got locked out of our house. A first for this house.

A previous time our dog drew blood from my 6 year old's arm through an overly playful nip. A first for dog and son.

Hmmm...it's a wonder she comes back. It's scary that we still leave.

A Mess in the Manger

Reading Proverbs to Eli last night, we read,

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest" (14:4)

Here's a choice for my family. Do we want a clean manger or an abundant harvest?

Or, in other words, do we want a comfortable, easy lifestyle, or one with Kingdom purpose? I used to think both were possible. Our home, car, clothes, etc could look like magazine-covers, and we'd have faithful children, too. In our affluent culture the wealth comes easy enough. But the comforts of wealth lead many to fail on the faithful family part. Isn't this reminiscent of the "personal peace and affluence" trap that Schaeffer described?

I'll stick with the abundant harvest. Raising godly children doesn't come easily; there's hard ground to plow and messes in the manger. We'll have to give up on the perfectly appointed dream-home, the BMW roadster, etc. But if our treasure is in Christ, we won't miss them.

Rest in Peace

Our house is cursed. By that I mean the effects of the Fall are felt here. I've mentioned before that we struggle with anger. We get frustrated at our children easily, try harder not to, and then a little later, we get really frustrated! We've proven true that line, "if we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing". My pastor calls this "gutting it out", instead of believing the gospel.

Not that God promises us that our 6-year old will peacefully cooperate with his mother during his studies. Nor that he will get along with his sister. Peace is a big need in our home.

But thankfully, part of the gospel is a promise of peace. God is at peace with us because of who Christ is and what He has done, I don't want to minimize that. But the promise of peace doesn't end there. God also promises peace in our life that we're unable to generate ourselves. It's a fruit of the Spirit. The best we can do is trust and rest in His promise of peace to us.

Christ is faithful. He will finish the job, in us and in our children. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...you were called to peace" (Col 3:15).

A Song of Ascents for Lord's Day Morning

I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go up to the house of the Lord!"

We are going to the house of prayer,
pour upon us a spirit of grace and supplication.

We are going to the house of praise,
awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion.

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place, saying:

"Here will I dwell, for I have desired it;
I will satisfy her poor with bread."

Let Israel now say:

"Let us go to his dwelling place;
let us worship at his footstool!"


(A harmony from the Psalms and Valley of Vision)

Reforming a Church

The church we recently joined is about 15 years old. For approximately the first 13 years it was as "contemporary" as one can be; I'm told it didn't even have an order of worship. About two years ago, just before it was about to bankrupt, the Session called a new pastor, purportedly without knowing him too well.

The Session was open to change. Man, did they get it. A prescribed Order of Worship. Redemptive-Historical preaching. Weekly Lord's Supper. But most of all, the fetters that had held back the fullness of the gospel were unbound. Like the proverbial iceberg, the application of the gospel gradually got bigger and bigger.

I've been listening to recordings of the first sermons the pastor preached here. The nervousness in the congregation can be subtly detected. I get the sense they weren't sure what to think; it was all so different. But they must have been pleased that so many new people were showing up. Still, I'm told some complained, "why preach about the gospel so much to Christians?"

I'd like to say I was wiser than that. But months later when we found the church, I wondered why this reformed pastor didn't take some action about the way the teen-agers dressed, the women-dominated committees, the American flag in the sanctuary, etc, etc. If I were pastor, I would have convinced the Session to correct all the things I saw at once.

But now I see that lasting change comes by teaching the congregation to bring the gospel to bear on all areas of their life; not by a coerced mandate from the Session. When Christians sit under the preached Word and Sacraments we are gradually tranformed into what God created us to be. As our church realizes the fullness of the gospel we're also developing a greater desire for it. Reformation is coming.

A Complaint

While reading Exodus this morning it stood out that when the Israelites in the wilderness complain about their situation to their leaders they are actually complaining against the Lord (Ex 16:2,7).

Where has complaining ever gotten me? A recent sermon point stuck with me. Complaining betrays a lack of belief that God cares for me and is in-control. But prayer is its photo-negative. Prayer shows that I believe God actually cares for me and has made promises that He'll keep.

Rather than grumble, murmur, and gripe to myself and my leaders, I should believe the gospel, pray, and wait.

To my wife, on her birthday

You're not the kind to make a big deal out of your birthday. You don't want folks to "make much of you". Still, I expect you may have mixed feelings about your new age. 32--you've caught up with me again.

I'm not old enough for people to view me as wise and no longer young enough to be admired as youthful. It's easier to judge the growth of my bald spot than detect any progress in wisdom. I suspect you may also struggle to see the benefits that attend another birthday. As the one charged to tend to your maturity, there are a few things I'd like to point out.

You want the gospel more now than ever since I've known you. You are moved by the preached Word like never before; you have discovered sublime satisfaction in the Supper. You are bringing the gospel to bear in all areas of your life. To God be the glory.

You deny being a beautiful woman. But if beauty is a gentle and quiet spirit, you have no defense against my claim to the contrary. In fact, not only has beauty attended you all along, but each year it envelopes you more. To God be the praise.

The past year of your life has been more difficult than we anticipated. Being a stay-at-home mom is tough. Homeschooling young children while safeguarding a toddler is tougher still. Struggles with debilitating sickness, disrespect, disobedience, and doubts have worn you down. But wisdom says this is good. You please God more now than before, because you have been forced to rely more on His grace and not on your many strengths. You have always been intelligent and industrious, now you have been made wise. To God be thanks.

Celebrate your birthday for what He has done in your life. It's only going to get better!

Mission Conference 2004

This weekend was our church's annual missions conference. A couple of things are worth pointing out:

1. 23 churches in 3 months. The couple that we spent the most time with is supported by 23 churches plus other individuals. Their missions organization allots them 3 months furlough every three years. Of course they spend much of that time visiting supporters. There's got to be a better way.

2. Military to Missionary. We thought Kristin's diabetes would keep us off the mission field after my military career is over. But this weekend we realized that even in our situation the military is great preparation for missions. To meet our medical needs we could do our mission work near any overseas US military installation. For example, we could church-plant among Muslims in London, Spain, Germany, etc. Anywhere there's a decent US military hospital. Also, the frequent moves that are part of the military lifestyle are providing us with a network of churches and friends that could be potential supporters. Plus, we're used to a transitory lifestyle. What's another move or two? The last point I'll mention is that the retirement pay would help offset the support needed.

For years I've wondered what I should do after the military. Kristin and I are excited to think that missions may be right for us.

The Death of the Protestant Work Ethic?

This week there were several challenges in doing my job with excellence, i.e. unto the Lord. As a supervisor it isn't enough that I do my work with excellence, I also need to enforce a standard of excellence from those that work for me. This isn't always possible with a few of my notorious folks. So when my boss exhorted me to work on their poor performance I was strongly tempted to get upset; but just before I completely lost my head, I realized that part of doing my job with excellence is agreeing that there are improvements to be made. "He who hates reproof is stupid." (Prov 12:1b, ESV)

Also this week a previous employee said that I was the best supervisor he'd ever had, and that, "you got more work out of me than anybody". I returned his compliment with praise to God who does all things well.

There's a significant need for Christians today to develop a strong work ethic. Doing their work unto the Lord, means in part, doing it with excellence. I remember several years ago Kristin and I went to a Ragamuffin concert; it was their first tour after Rich Mullins died. They didn't know the lyrics to several of the songs they played and, overall, gave a poor performance. They showed no shame for their sub-standard act; it didn't seem to matter to them. I think many Christians have a similar view towards their work. They fail to do it with excellence and therefore fail to reflect God's excellencies to those they serve.

Follow-Ups

Some updates from earlier posts:

1. The rodeo was a great time. Saw the latest in cowboy fashion. The night after we attended a bull jumped 6 feet vertically into the stands after bucking the cowboy. Ten people were injured; most by the stampede of fleeing spectators. It took 15 minutes to get the bull down. Guess there were no real cowboys in the stands.

2. I ate the meatloaf. Still alive; still don't like it. But I didn't hide any in my glass of milk like I used to.

3. Some old neighbors were back in town for a visit yesterday. Their base house down the street is still empty, and their son wanted to know if his toads were still there. Eli stretched his arm down into a hole and pulled out three hibernating toads. The boys were ecstatic; the frogs were not.

Chocolate Bunnies and Ju-Ju Beans
An Apology for Skipping "The Movie"

Many people I respect have seen Passion. It's important to note that I consider them more mature in the faith than me. I've enjoyed their reviews of the movie. It's obviously a reverent and powerful film. At the same time, I don't think it'd be beneficial to me. Here are my reasons for skipping "The Movie":

#1. Chocolate Bunnies. I can hardly read the book of Daniel without thinking of dancing chocolate bunnies. This mental residue is left over from watching the VeggieTale video Rack, Shack and Benny. And Goliath is a giant pickle. The image associations I'd pick up from Passion probably wouldn't be so ludicrous, but when I read of the death of Christ I'd rather not think of a movie.

#2. Ju-Ju Beans. Have you heard the vintage Bill Cosby tale about how as a boy he'd get so scared at movies that he'd slide out of his seat and hide on the theater floor? At the end of the movie someone would have to pick the black Ju-Ju beans off his back, because we all know that no one eats the black ones! Besides making some scared, the Passion story is also sacred. Isn't it irreverent to chomp on popcorn and slurp your Big Gulp while watching the sufferings and death of an innocent Man? If I went to the movie, I'm afraid the folks around me wouldn't think so. A sacred story deserves a more sacred setting.

These may just be my strange hang-ups. But when I learned from the current Mars Hill Audio Journal that the average American college student has seen nearly 100 movies for every book he has read, perhaps my hang-ups aren't so bad.

The High Cost of Discipleship!

Church is tonight. I dread it. At least the dinner part. Meat Loaf! Yuck, yuck, yuck! For over 20 years I've successfully averted all meals involving this ketchup-slathered concoction.

But if I want to learn about tonight's topic, the joys of the New Earth (and I really do), then I'll have to choke-down a little sorrow from this old one. Oh, the high cost of discipleship!

Little Things To Love a Lot

The way my daughter says "daddy"

Wrestling with the boys

My wife's cookies

A good mail day

A sanctuary filled with singing

A like-minded brother

Repairing the Ruins

During a men's dinner this weekend I saw God's covenantal faithfulness to multiple generations. One man there was a sixth generation Christian. His family Bible is a second edition King James printed in 1633! I'd like to start a tradition like this in my family, but the mass-produced Bibles of today don't seem like heirloom material.

Another man, our host, is a young father with Covenanters' blood on both sides of the family. As might be expected, he is passionate about the church. He takes seriously his parents' expectation to build upon the faith passed down to him. It's good to see God's faithfulness to His promises. Yet, there is much to be done.

I think it was a Basement Tape that pointed out that our parents' generation just didn't see the danger in sending covenant children to government schools. Thankfully, many of their grown children have seen that error and taken action. But I wonder...what blind spots of ours will our children see and fix?

We labor today to regain what was lost in 1973 when abortion restrictions were struck down. Thirty years from now, will our children single-out 2004 as the year that marriage was struck down?

Enjoying the Beauty of Two Books

I've heard that Puritans thought of creation and revelation as two books to know God by. The past two Sundays we've enjoyed both together. Two beauty-filled redemptive-historical sermons on Isaac and Rebekah combined with balmy afternoons at the sand-filled park across the street have been doubly-nice.

Even beauty contained in something as commonplace as pine trees is worth trying to capture in words. Pines here are about 4-stories tall. The bottom 3-stories are long branchless trunks, thin and straight as arrows. They are capped by a few scraggly branches. A close-knit group of pines will frightenly bend and sway in the wind like a wheat field ripe for harvest.

At night, our neighborhood is so dark that moonlight is only lightly screened through their thin layer of needles. I can almost read by it. Tonight there is a glowing half-moon. And every clear night, the star field is crisp and gleaming.

"Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:2

The Songs We Sing

My dad played piano by ear, a little. I remember he liked the tune to Old Danny Boy. Besides that the only music I remember was from an old paint-specked, mono radio. He'd listen to the country music of that day, like Conway Twitty, while he built our house on the farm. I'd usually spend the day playing in the dirt, or practicing hammering a nail straight.

I enjoy the memories of my childhood. At the same time I'm hoping to leave indelible marks on my children by the songs we sing. So far our young group can belt out the first verse of the following songs from memory:

Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (and other Christmas Carols)
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
All Hail the Power of Jesus Name
Crown Him with Many Crowns
Be Thou My Vision
O Worship the King
Rejoice the Lord is King
Come Christians, Join to Sing
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Holy, Holy, Holy
A Might Fortress is Our God

Is it sinful...

...for parents to send their children to public school?
...for Dad to stay at home with the children so Mom can work?
...if a married couple decides not to have children?

In a sense everything we do is tainted with sin, for our righteousness is as filthy rags. However, I see issues like those above as wisdom and glory issues, not as scandalous sin. Sending your children to government schools shows a lack of wisdom. A stay-at-home Dad and a working mom reflect God's glory poorly, as do most married couples that decide against children. These are generalizations, there can be exceptions, but they are not the rule.

Some say that churches should restrict the privileges of members who do such things. However, seems to me punitive actions are to be reserved for scandalous sin (such as adultery, divorce, etc). I'd rather the elders model a wise and God-glorifying lifestyle, let their convictions be known in all the church, and leave room for their sheep to follow over time.

Kids Have More Fun

The rodeo is in town. We're pumped. Last time they let the children into the arena to chase a calf. This was pretty daring for my sandal-clad daughter (...road apples!).

For me, the fun of life really began once we had children, not "BC" as pop culture believes. Kids know how to have a good time, and help their ol' fogey parents enjoy zoos, circuses, carnivals, rodeos, parks, woods, lakes, etc. Before children I'd drive around these places all the time, but seldom did any of it. Now it's load up the van and let's go!

Business-Based Friends

Got a voice mail today from a neighbor inviting my wife to another "party". This time it was for Longaberger. Seems odd that neighbors today only open their home when there's a good chance we'll buy something while we're there. Kristin gets more invites for home-business "parties" than she does for playgroups, baby showers, coffee/teas, and meals all put together. It shouldn't take a sales pitch for neighborhood moms to get together.

The workplace has emptied the neighborhood of many potential friends for my wife. There is a deep and important need for friendship among stay-at-home moms. It's for this reason that I have mixed feelings about home-based businesses. It's just too easy to unintentionally exploit a young mom's need for friendship while picking up a few orders and making some bucks. Even well-intentioned ladies must be very careful if they want to mix business with pleasure in order to avoid being a faux-friend.

Home-based businesses are fine; but business-based friends are not.

Church Abuse

Part of my workday was spent hearing a sales pitch from a corporation seeking to provide engineering services to my office. There's nothing unusual about that. What was unique was this corporation's tie to the church.

As a branch of a local baptist university, they qualify as a non-profit organization. And because they are a non-profit, we can award them government contracts without having to go through the usual amount of red-tape.

They were professional, but not openly Christian. Association with the church is important to them only because it gives them advantages over their profit-oriented competitors.

It's too bad that so many of the "Christian" universities have become unorthodox strongholds. It would have been great today if the pitch I heard was from an unashamedly-Christian, dominion-seeking, bunch of engineer geeks.

Help for Little Children

While reading Proverbs to my six-year old son last night, three times we read that the mouth of the fool comes to ruin. With a contrite expression Eli interjected, "Like mine". I responded to this unexpected confession by commending his softened heart. Next time I'll be ready to also urge him to rely on God's grace to change him.

The gospel is for children, not just for the mature. When my children disobey, I shouldn't encourage them to try harder to obey. Since Jesus was made like his brothers in every way, He is able to help little girls and boys when they are tempted to disobey. To please God (and me), our children don't need to try harder; instead they need to know to rely on God's grace.

Seed Sown Along the Path

During our unit's PT (Physical Training) session this week I talked to a lieutenant about Jesus as we ran the mile and a half. I'm thankful for the opportunity to exalt Jesus to those who know me but not Him, and for the ease with which this conversation began. But I wimped out and omitted an essential part of the message: the external call to repent and believe. This omission reduced the call and it became instead just my personal testimony.

As an attempt to improve in this area, I re-familiarized myself with the external calls given in the Gospels and Acts. I guess it has been awhile; this was my first time reading these texts and appreciating that the call to repent and believe is not a one-time "conversion" thing; but something to be done continually.

Books Read in 2003

The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God; Piper
Pilgrim's Progress; Bunyan
Little Women; Alcott
Federal Husband; Wilson
Stepping Heavenward; Prentiss
The Gospel for Real Life; Bridges
Future Men; Wilson
In Freedom's Cause; Henty
A Scientific Theology; McGrath (unfinished)
The Defense of the Faith; Van Til (unfinished)
God's Passion for His Glory; Piper/Edwards
Never Too Early; Claggett
King Lear; Shakespeare
Back to Basics; Hagopian (ed.)
Cantebury Tales; Chaucer
Reforming Marriage; Wilson
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Baum
Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators; Chilton
The Hundred Days; O'Brian
(plus some Air Command and Staff College readings)

The books I list as unfinished were fine, and I learned some good points out of them. I'm just not ready for them yet. But they did stretch me, which is good. The favorite for the year (and my wife's, too) was Stepping Heavenward. But only because I've read Pilgrim's Progress before.

Thank Who?

I'm slowly seeing that even my cubicle-dwelling job is a calling from God. If I do my work in an excellent manner, not only do I reflect God's excellencies, but I also have more and better opportunities to speak of His excellencies to others.

But here's a temptation to be aware of. More people will appreciate my work if it's done in an excellent manner and some will kindly express that appreciation to me. Especially my bosses; people that I naturally want to please. The temptation here is towards self-glory. I can simply say "Thank you", which is appropriate, but seems to give too big a share of the glory to me.

I know a fine man that, when complimented, responds with an appreciative-sounding "Praise God". This seems to come closer to the mark. Here are a couple of quotes that brought this thought to mind:

"Thou are the author and finisher of faith...every good work or thought found in me is the effect of thy power and grace"
- Valley of Vision, page 4.

"May the Word of Christ dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph only through His power"
- from a 1925 hymn by Katie B. Wilkinson (#644 in Trinity Hymnal)

First Words

Isaiah, my 20 month old son, answers the catechism:

Q. Who made you?
A. GAAA!!!


Q. What else did God make?
A. AWWWW TEEENGS!!!


Q. Why did God make you and all things?
A. GLLLOOREEEE!!! YEAY! (clap, clap, clap)

What to do about "Adam and Steve"?

I feel like there's something I should do about the same-sex marriage mess. But I don't know what.

I certainly don't want to give any credence to the notion that the state should be involved with defining marriage. That is clearly outside their sphere of authority. They should simply defer to the historic, orthordox position of the church. However, I am saddened to see pop culture and now the state move farther into licentiousness.

And I hate to see another good word hijacked. "Marriage" will join other abducted terms, such as "Presbyterian", "Evangelical", and "Christian". We'll soon have to qualify the word in order to use it. Here's an example.

To keep from confusing my church with the majority of Presbyterians, I have to describe it as part of a Bible-believing Presbyterian denomination. "Presbyterian" has baggage I have to discard before I can use it. And so now will "Marriage". Soon I'll have to describe my marriage as being "heterosexual". How strange this should sound!

One thing to do seems obvious--pray for repentance. That marital adultery in the church would end. And moreso, spiritual adultery. The church has weakened marriage; the state thinks it can do better.

The Gospel According to the Bible Belt

Living in rural Georgia brings with it some unique aspects of Southern culture. Besides confederate flags, monster trucks, R.C. Cola and Moon Pies, the South is also famous for being the Bible Belt.

The military has stationed us in several different regions of the country (Northeast, Mid-west, South Texas, Deep South). Each has its own unique sub-culture. Here in the Bible belt-buckle, it's my observation that religion influences much more of the population than the other regions we've lived in. Churches are as numerous as gas stations. Very few people are unchurched.

But sadly, the gospel here is starved and shrunken. Its sole tenant: Jesus died for sinners. Its only application: Get Saved! Its fruit: No cursing and no drinking.

When our love for Christ only penetrates our speech and beverage selection, what we have is a diminished gospel. When the message stops with "Get Saved", we should realize this is a man-centered faith.

How much more robust is the reformed faith! It's a God-centered gospel, in full-bloom, affecting and giving meaning to every area of life. Salvation, Worship, Family, Vocation all align under a common purpose to glorify God. Far from being a platitude, "to glorify God" gives direction and inspiration to all of life's difficulties and delights.

Regrettably, this gospel is seldom heard in the Bible-belt. Which reminds me of something else the military has taught me. Belts make great tourniquets.

Refusing the Milk

Reality Check: a majority of pastors in America can't stomach the milk of God's Word.

Here are the dismal statistics from Barna showing what small percentage of clergy hold basic orthodox beliefs (see WORLD, 7 Feb, pg 25):

44% of Pentecostal and Charismatic Clergy
27% of Methodist Clergy
35% of black pastors
15% of female pastors

If so many pastors reject basic Christian truth, it's no surprise that most American Christians are ignorant. What a sad state the American church is in.

How should the reformed church respond? One, praise God for keeping us faithful. Second, we should pick better targets. Instead of feuding amongst ourselves, why don't we aim our well-worn canons at the real wolves in shepherds' clothing? Where are the books, statements, etc specifically calling these groups to task and pleading for the lost sheep to come out from among them?

Bring on the Grief and Pain!?!

This ties into my post from Thursday. During worship today I was struck by the third stanza of Elizabeth Prentiss' hymn, More Love to Thee, O Christ:

Let sorrow do its work,
send grief and pain;
sweet are thy messengers,
sweet their refrain,
when they can sing with me,
more love, O Christ, to thee,
more love to thee, more love to thee!

Calvin on Our Fathers

As one who believes that Christians today underappreciate the historic orthodoxy of their faith, Calvin reminds me it's also important not to overcorrect:

"They were foolishly inflated on account of the glory of their race, they often imitated the vices of their fathers as though they were virtues, and defended themselves by their examples...

"Hence may be learnt a general truth, that we are not to defer too much to the authority of the fathers lest it should draw us away from God; for if any fathers have ever been worthy of honor, no doubt the Jews possessed that preeminence; and yet David distinctly commanded their children to beware of being like them." (Calvin's Commentary on Hebrews 3:8)

Pray Like a Believer

At our previous assignment our church didn't have many older people. Our church prayer list was not usually about health issues. One of the adjustments we've made since being back in a PCA church is the older folks. And with that seems to come prayer lists almost exclusively about health problems.

Good health is certainly something to thank God for each day; but I see room for improvement in the way we pray for those who are suffering. The prayers are not done out of faith. I'm not saying we should "claim the healing" or anything like that. Our prayers for those who suffer should be for them to believe God's promises throughout their illness. And for them to rest confident in the fact that the difficulty is of the Lord and for a beneficial purpose. This glorifies God and seeks the person's best. We should want godliness more than good health. Instead, our prayers are mostly faithless pleas to God to heal the person as soon as it's His will, completely ignoring His purpose in the pain.

Also speaking of prayer, today I read and enjoyed Jeffrey Meyer's article "Formal Corporate Prayer". Here's an excerpt that's relevant to my comments above.

"You know very well what happens when there is no guidance or direction to the prayers. Prayers become tedious: "I just want to thank you, Lord. . . and I just want to ask. . . and I just want. . ." Or they become trivial and down right silly: "O Lord, help us to be all that we can be" (the Army Prayer) or "Lord, help us to reach out and touch somebody this week" (the AT&T prayer)

"...here’s the important point: if the child never grows up and learns how to pray biblically, if the content of his prayers remain the same, then it’s not so cute anymore. God may be pleased with a childlike prayer, but he is not satisfied with it either. He expects us to grow up and learn how to pray like adults, to inform our prayers more and more to the models He has given us in the Scriptures.

"Some churches never get beyond praying for sick people and saying grace at the table. That’s fine as far as it goes, but have you ever noticed that the Bible doesn’t contain a whole lot of prayers for sick people and pretty much assumes that we know how to give thanks for our food? Again, I’m not talking here about a fancy, flowing style. My concern centers on the content of the prayers: confession of sin; thanking God for creation and providence; thanking God for the person and work of Christ; praying for strength in the midst of temptation; praying that His kingdom would be protected from all its enemies and extended throughout the world. These are petitions that do not come "naturally" to us. We need to be trained."

After leading a three-day long meeting of about 20 people, I'm exhausted. I guess if Myers-Briggs Type Indicator stuff is right, I'm not much of an extrovert.

Our goal was to move broke aircraft at the field into the depot for repair faster. We scrutinized each part of our process looking for improvement. The behavior of the women on my team puzzled me. Each of these women are known to be hard-working and reliable "make it happen" kind of employees. But when we began to scrutinize processes in their area, they became very defensive and reacted as if we were personally insulting them. A lot of emotions were flying around the room, none were "gentle and quiet". In the end, theirs was the only area left unimproved.

Perhaps it was the three-day long session getting to them. But I can't rule out that it may be an issue of improper roles. The question is not "can a woman do anything a man can?", but, should they? After today's session, I'm all the more thankful for my submissive-embracing wife.

From Pole to Pole, That Wars May Cease

Today I took the fourth in a series of military tests aimed at making me a better warfighter. I think I passed.

In the past I've crammed the weekend before the test, but this time I prepared differently. I decided to enjoy the Sabbath by doing my best to live that day as if the kingdom had fully come. Since all wars will then have ceased, instead of studying for war on the Sabbath I enjoyed a peaceful day.

Crown Him the Lord of peace!

I'm no John G. Paton

I read John Paton's autobiography recently. Both Vision Forum and John Piper speak very highly of the book. He was a Scottish Presbyterian raised in a covenant family to be a missionary to Cannibals. The shadow of a bloody death loomed over him for many years on the Islands of the South Pacific, but his trust in God's Providence made him fearless in the face of savagery. In his lifetime God used him to usher in whole islands to the kingdom of Christ.

I'm no John Paton. Tonight I stammered and was shifty as I spoke to my inquiring, unbelieving brother-in-law about Jesus. God has used stammerers before (Abraham, Moses, perhaps Paul), but it was courage that was lacking tonight.

There was something else besides Paton's boldness that would be very out of place in the churches I've seen in Georgia. He was an ardent Sabbatarian. He'd be shocked to find it commonplace for churches to hire people to work the nursery on the Sabbath. Given our history, it does seem rather a strange thing to find in Presbyterian circles.

Speaking of churches, mine now has their web site up and running. In less than two years, this church has progressed from Happy/Clappy worship to enjoying God through liturgical worship and weekly Communion. And, by the way, it's doubled in size.

Covenant Community vs. American Dream

I spent the day as part of a panel interviewing people for promotion. In-between interviews we chatted about the fun of traveling. One lady on the panel was representative of the women that I work with. She was vocal about her trust in the Lord. She was professional in appearance and demeanor. She began working when her children hit school-age and looks forward to world-travel once the children are out of the house. Cruises, RVs, exotic vacations will fill-up her future.

I'm convinced churches that lack an understanding of the Covenant Community will find their members living out the American dream instead of Titus 2. We need to consider our responsibilities to the other families in the church and not just take off once our professional career ends.

I, too, look forward to enjoying the adventures of world travel. But I'll hold-off until the New Earth; that'll be worth seeing!

Whites Only

Kristin and I went to our first adoption appointment today. We're trying to decide whether to start our home study now or wait until we move to Ohio in May. Either way, I think we'll be involved with this particular adoption agency since they're one of the few it seems that place bi-racial or minority babies.

It's surprising to learn that there are so few adoptive parents interested in transracial adoption. They'd rather wait in the "whites only" line for years while numerous black and bi-racial babies languish in foster care (often the waiting room for prison). What should our reasons for adopting children be? If the litmus test for choosing a baby to bring into our loving home is race instead of need, are we not racist?

Do we not realize that the eternal kingdom Christ has ransomed is made up of people from every tribe and language and people and nation? I long for my family to reflect that truth; in doing so we will reflect God's glory.

Children: Signs of Judgment

A recent devotional in Tabletalk pointed out that the prophet Isaiah's children were signs of judgment against an apostate nation (see Isa 8).

Our children serve as signs of judgment by revealing to the world the hidden wretchedness of their parents' life. From Daddy they learn new ways to be selfish, and aren't ashamed to demonstrate this to their playmates. From Mommy they figure out how to burst with unrighteous indignation, but they don't mind if the folks in the grocery store see.

Gladly, my failures as a parent will be largely overcome (where sin increases, grace abounds all the more!). And by that grace my children will always love Christ, His church and, in turn, raise more godly children. But most children today are being raised for less noble purposes. If their parents sow anger, apathy, or avarice into them, our nation shouldn't be surprised at what it reaps.

The Lord, with his strong hand upon Isaiah, warns him and us not to walk in the way of this people. I and the children the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel. (vss 11, 18)

A Sabbath Walk

There's a limit on how far an Orthodox Jew can walk on the Sabbath. One walk that I haven't reached the end of yet is the Christian understanding of this day. Because of a certain situation in my life since moving to Georgia, I wrestle with the meaning of the Sabbath frequently.

In childhood the Sabbath meant the blue-laws of the South and my father's prohibition against the local pop radio station. After my conversion, I came to see the Sabbath in terms of works of necessity and works of mercy. Later I discovered joy, realizing that Christ is our Sabbath-rest. He made peace with God for us; things are as they ought to be.

I've thought of the Sabbath in these redemptive terms for some time, while also wrestling with its creational meaning. New light was shed on this subject while reading Vos' Biblical Theology. If asked what the world to come would be like, he would answer that it should resemble the Sabbath. To him the Sabbath is to be an expression of our eschatology. We are to learn from the weekly Sabbath that life is not an aimless existence, that a goal lies beyond. Some day all things will be as they ought to be.

This sounds great! But now the task is to figure out how a young family is to enjoy the Sabbath in this way.

Read and Do

Kristin became ill and was up most of the night, so I stayed home today. I was able to teach homeschool, serve meals (nothing fancy), and chop down the laundry pile by a couple of loads.

In phonics the children are learning about the consonant blend -dr-. To illustrate this blend we looked at the verse where Jesus teaches that to offer a drink to the least of the brothers is, in reality, serving Christ Himself. How clear the connection was between our lesson and godliness--just down the hall was mother, needy and thirsty from her sickness!

I am so pleased to be able to educate my children in such a way, that they not only learn to read the Word of God, but are also able to immediately live it out.