The Ritter Life

New Website

2010-12-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

I have moved my writing to a new website I started recently. I was posting everything on both sites, but for the last couple of weeks have only been doing so on the new site. From time to time I will update things on this blog, but this will primarily be more a personal "journal" of sorts, which I hope is still interesting enough :-)

The website is www.thegospelmatters.com It has been a project for me for a while and by the end of this year there will be some significant additions to the site, including an opportunity for you to partner with me to help pay for my seminary education. My goal is to get people interested in chipping in $10 a month, with the idea that if enough people do then it will be a significant contribution to my schooling. For more information click on "The Experiment" on the top of the page (if it's not there yet, it will be soon).

Why Serve? Why Be Humble?

2010-12-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

As a new youth pastor in 2006, Philippians was the first book I went through with the little clan of students I was starting with. I can remember vividly a discussion I had with one of the students, a senior at a local private Christian high school, when we went through Phil. 2:1-11. She told me that her leadership group had adopted Philippians 2:1-4 as their passage to describe how they wanted to serve the school unselfishly. The interesting part of the discussion was when she said “It wasn’t until tonight, when you went past verse 4 into verses 5-11, that I realized just why we should want to obey verses 1-4.” What a tragedy it is when the commands given to Christians are detached from the gospel truth proclaimed to their hearts!

It has been my passion for years to see the answer to “why serve”, or “why be humble” as “because of Jesus”. Because of him, I can joyfully let go of competition or rivalry and work alongside people, enjoying their gifts and employing my own for others’ benefit. The easiest verse to overlook in these 11 verses, for me, is verse 4 – look also to the interests of others. If I don’t actively do this, I won’t do it at all. It’s perhaps slowly becoming more natural through the work of the Spirit, but only through consistent repentance of failure to do so. God looks after my needs and interests (not always what I believe I want but what he knows I need) so I can in turn look away from myself towards others. Christianity is unique in that, rather than saying “turn inward to find joy and meaning” it tells us to “look outward, to Jesus, to see the One who gave everything for you. And in turn, respond and give everything to and for him.”

While the academic “theologizing” of 2:6-11 is important (understanding what it means that Jesus “made himself nothing” for example), it is rarely those explanations that motivate our hearts to worship and serve God. Instead, we need to see the fact of his obedience, his humility, and his service of us on the cross, dwell on it, and live our lives in light of it. My hope is that I can become obedient in all that God would have me do with a willing heart, taking joy in my gifted-righteousness through Jesus. I love the “therefore” in v. 9 as well – because of all of this, in view of what Jesus did on the cross, the Father raised the Son and exalted him, and gave him the name above all names. One day all people will recognize Jesus as Lord; I want to spend my life acknowledging that fact and helping others to do the same.

Thanks-giving

2010-11-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And, trust me, I love Thanksgiving Day. I love celebrating a tradition our country has held for several hundred years, and I love all the food too. My wife and I are hosting our first thanksgiving this year, with several family members flying up to see us in Portland. Noelle is slightly nervous about making the turkey - her first one - but we've already practiced on a whole chicken and did very well, so I'm confident she'll be just fine. But this post isn't exactly about Thanksgiving day... it's about giving thanks in general.

I Timothy 4:4-5 says "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer." Think about that... everything created by God is good. In this day and age, that verse flies in the face of popular thinking which favors the spiritual over the physical. I know I, for one, find myself sometimes feeling guilty if I'm enjoying physical things, created things. I trick myself into believing that God is most happy with me when I am totally detached emotionally from beautiful sites and good food, thinking instead that I should enjoy him spiritually. While we should enjoy God spiritually - meaning, regardless of our circumstances, or in the middle of tough times, or in the ordinariness of most of life - we as Christians are unique among the world in that we know God is the God of all things physical and made us to enjoy physically pleasing things. Everything created by God is good... the eggs I had for breakfast on an English muffin; the turkey in my refrigerator with which I'll make a sandwich for lunch, the lettuce and fixings that will make a salad later tonight. All of these simple things, created by God, are good. And they are to be received with thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving. Giving thanks. Obvious enough ideas, I know. But are you thankful? To give thanks regularly is to pause and remind yourself and those you are with that God has made things good. We, sinful mankind, abuse what he has made and we are not thankful for what he's done in giving us good things. But as Christians, with minds renewed by God's Spirit living in us, can give thanks today for all he has made. Take some time today, and the next day and the next, to give God thanks for simple and good things you have. Repent of constantly focusing on what you don't have, on what you think you should have. Give thanks.

Why Creation Matters

2010-11-16T19:04:00.001-08:00

I've never understood the obsession people have with how old the earth is, or the universe for that matter. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I don't have a bone in my body that is interested in geology and stuff. Sure I appreciate it and I know we need thinking Christians in those fields who are interested in discovering more about God's activity in the world, but it sort of loses out in my list of top 10 things to get amped about in life. But during a recent theology class, my professor got into the subject of creationism. He had many insightful things to say and I resonated very much with it. He has a view of Genesis 1 and 2 which is not the majority view - it hovers somewhere between new earth and old earth and, so it seems, he could care less about the final answer to the age of the earth. Ultimately he said he's an old earth guy but if evidence persuaded him to young earth he'd be happy with that too. His main point? Know what you are actually supposed to be fighting against.

In Christian circles, the battle appears to be between old and young earth schools of thought. But in the scientific community, no one regards that as too big of an issue. The greater issue is not "How long ago did the universe get created?" but rather "Is the universe created or random?" Dr. Breshears makes it clear: the true opposition to any Christian view of creationism is not the opposite Christian view, but rather the dominant view of evolutionism (not sure if that's a word but it's one he uses). Evolutionism is the philosophic conviction that everything has come from nothing; nothing created all that we see. Everything that exists is here because of natural processes, completely without the governing of any creator.

Dr. Breshears went on to say that if you are ever talking to someone from outside the faith about the concept of creation, never argue about the age of the earth. It is a useless argument which, in the end, we can't know with perfect certainty. Plus it gets us derailed from the central issue. Rather we need to argue for the fact of creation through reason and data. And the good news is that the data is constantly pointing to the conclusion that the universe had a beginning. This may sound like old news, but has only been true for about 25 years that most of the scientific community agrees on this - they used to vehemently argue that the earth and universe have always existed ("steady state universe" was the term). The great thing? Scientific data keeps pointing back to Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." The problem? The philosophic conviction of evolutionism often keeps intelligent people from following the truth wherever it leads.

Creation is an extremely important doctrine which Christians must hold onto and defend. From the truth of creation we understand that man is made in God's "image" - mankind reflects, to some marred degree because of sin, the characteristics and traits of God. We also know God is not one with the universe, and therefore the earth is not to be worshiped but God alone. We also see God's rhythm for working and resting in creation, something God has made us to enjoy in order to be healthy. We see that God is so powerful that creation came about by the word of God (identified as Jesus in John 1:1-14). We also see reason to enjoy creativity and beauty - God has made a world incredibly creative and humans have the privilege to create in some way just like God did. This list is by no means exhaustive.

So, rejoice in the fact that you have been created by a good and loving God. You are not random, purposeless or meaningless. God has made you in his image and salvation through Christ is, in part, a renewal process of the clear image of God you were made in. If it's your cup-of-tea to research more of the scientific side of things, go for it! Praise God that he has made a world where the more and more we learn about the universe, the more and more we see it pointing back to him.

Thoughts on Forgiveness

2010-11-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

The type of forgiveness put forth in the Old and New Testament sets Christianity apart from all other faiths. Forgiveness is spoken of on a human to human basis and a God to human basis. While forgiving one another is an extremely important concept, I am seeking here to illumine some important ideas of God's forgiveness towards us in this article.

In Exodus 34:6-7 God defines himself. He descends in a cloud on top of Mt. Sinai to Moses, declaring his name and character. While I've written about all of the character traits he lists elsewhere, I am being struck deeply with the concept of forgiveness. Moses records that God forgives "iniquity, transgression, and sin" (ESV). The NIV puts it a little better when it says he forgives "wickedness, rebellion, and sin". Wouldn't it suffice for God to just say he forgives sin? Doesn't that encapsulate everything? Thought "sin" is a word nowadays that describes any wrong doing, their are interesting differences in the Hebrew words used in the text.

Wickedness: wrongdoing, with a focus of liability or guilt for this wrong incurred

Rebellion: revolt, i.e., to rise up in clear defiance to authority

Sin: to miss a mark or a way; what is an offense to a moral standard

God reveals that he is the one who forgives all of these things! He forgives guilty people who willfully and knowingly do wrong to others; he forgives those who clearly and intentionally rise up in defiance of his rightful authority, and he forgives those who miss the way he has laid out for mankind to live. God has a moral standard, we fail to meet that standard, and he is willing to forgive it. This is good news!

But, as you may imagine, there's more. The fact of the matter is that God makes it clear that he will "not let the guilty go unpunished", and this is a concept repeated throughout the Bible in one way or another. So, how can we guarantee God's forgiveness? Faith in the cross of Jesus Christ.

First, the cross. The cross says, basically, "your sin is this bad". It must be justly punished and death is the just punishment for sin. Death is the result of sin - from the first sin of Adam and Eve to every other person - all death can ultimately be explained by sin. It would not be wrong to say that even though there are thousands of "causes" for death ranging from murder to cancer to accidents, the foundational cause of death is the existence of sin. And so, God deals with sin perfectly in death. And this is why the death of Jesus on the cross, in my place, means so much to Christians. We realize that not only does God faithfully give the punishment for sin, but he graciously substituted his only Son in our place, dying for the forgiveness of our sin. In forgiveness God "lifts up", or takes away, our sin from us. He placed it on Jesus and gives us Jesus' righteousness as a gift (Romans 3:21-26). Martin Luther famously referred to this as "The Great Exchange".

Second, faith. We must receive this good news (Gospel means good news) as true and respond by repenting of sin. Repenting means basically to turn around, to do a 180 from the direction you were going and head in a new direction. To repent of sin and trust in Christ's death on the cross for you is what it means to place your faith in Jesus. It begins in an instant, when you acknowledge it as true and acknowledge your need for Jesus, and continues for the rest of your life as a Christian. Indeed, we must "live by faith", believing constantly that God's promises are true and his ability and willingness to forgive is as great as he says it is.

God's forgiveness runs deeper than you know, deeper than I know. It is impossible to overstate the importance of God's willingness to pardon us, to lift up our guilty sentence and give us, free for us but costing his Son, forgiveness. If you are a Christian, dwell on God's forgiveness in your life. If you are not a Christian, I plead with you to consider this good news, this Gospel. Do not assume God will wink at your rebellion, your disobedience, or even unknown sin in your heart. The way to a right relationship with the creator God who has made the earth and all that is in it is through faith in Jesus Christ. Trust that he is just in all his ways and will punish sin, and trust that he is gracious enough to freely forgive you in the name of Jesus.

Stringing Pearls

2010-11-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm reading an excellent book called Sitting At The Feet of Rabbi Jesus for one of my classes. Click on the title to be taken to Amazon to see the book. I'm just a few chapters in but thought I would share some fascinating stuff about how rabbis in the first century often taught their students. It really sheds light on why we often miss the full meaning of a passage or statement because we are so far removed from the world of first century Jews. But we should not despair because the fact that we are far removed from that culture does not mean we can't uncover truth that they knew. The authors of this book mention something called "stringing pearls", and much of what I'm going to say is coming from chapter 3 of their book.

"Stringing Pearls" is a phrase used to describe the method many Bible teachers used to get their point across to their students and increase the students' knowledge of the Bible. The teacher would use parts of verses but intentionally leave off the other part, forcing the student to go back and look at the verse to see what was meant by the statement. Or, they would string together parts of several verses to get one major point across. Jesus seems to have incorporated this method of teaching often. It doesn't mean he was struggling to come up with the words or forgetting the ending of well known verse - he was actually so aware of the Scriptures that he would use parts of verses to make a whole point.

Going one step further, it seems that even God the Father was a fan of this method of using the Bible as well. The example given in the book is the one I want to make you aware of because it takes us way beyond the simple statement. In Mark 1:11, God the Father speaks the well known words "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." I'd always taken that at face value - and even if that's all we ever did it would be quite the explanation of who Jesus is. But the Jews who heard this mysterious voice from Heaven, who were accustomed to their teachers "stringing pearls" together, almost undoubtedly put the three phrases together from three important sections of the Bible. Check it out:

"You are my Son" is from Psalm 2:7 - "He said t me, 'You are my son, today I have become your father"

"whom I love" is from Gen. 22:2 when God commanded Moses to take his only son, whom he loved, and offer him as a sacrifice.

"with you I am well pleased" is from Isaiah 42:1 which everyone believed was a Messianic Prophecy, meaning a statement from God that would have future fulfillment in the Messiah (Jesus).

God, by stringing pearls together from the three major sections of Scripture - Torah, prophets, writings - was declaring that THIS man, Jesus, was the Christ - the long awaited Messiah. Not only that, he hinted at the sacrifice Jesus would become by referencing the story from Gen. 22. And not only that, but by using Isaiah 42:1 he decisively told the people that Jesus is the divine and holy one who they were waiting for. As the authors say, "By quoting all three (sections of the Old Testament), he is proclaiming that the entire Scriptures point to Jesus as their fulfillment" (p. 45).

This whole concept was news to me and I'm excited to dig in some more to see what else I can learn about the Jewish culture that will help open up the Bible in greater ways to me. You really should pick up a copy of this book!

Reflections on Psalm 33

2010-11-01T16:53:00.001-07:00

As far as I'm concerned, some Psalms stand out much more than others. This isn't to say that they aren't all important; it's simply to say that different Psalms have effected me at different times in my life. For example, I usually can't resonate with Psalms that give a cry for the Lord's presence because I rarely feel without his presence. It has happened, but rarely. Or, I don't feel such strong negative emotions against enemies (because I can't say I have any) that I'd ask God to wipe them out. That being said, Psalm 33 is one I completely resonate with, particularly right now. I've been learning a great deal in one of my classes about the character of God, and this Psalm exalts in his character. Let's get into a few of the sayings and briefly see how they could (or should) affect us.

"He (God) loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord" - v. 5

God is not someone who sits in Heaven waiting to strike someone down for lying to their mother. God is not wringing his hands together with a smirk as to say "I'm going to get you one day!" No, the steadfast, or the remarkably consistent, love of God fills the earth. He sustains everyone - even the most ardent hater of God is breathing today because God is allowing him/her to continue breathing. We need a fuller view of God's love, one that is biblical - that while he hates sin and will not leave the sinner unpunished, his love and compassion fill the earth.

"The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations" - v. 10-11

God has a will and a plan for the world that will not be thwarted by mankind. In fact, God will confuse and destroy a nation's plan if need be! The biblical view of God's control is such that he is intimately involved in human history - not only the history of his people, but every nation. This means that any nation that has fallen and is no more has become that way by God's plan. History is not simply the study of things past as if they are mere "happen-stances" as some call it - history is, from a Christian perspective, a study of how God has intervened to accomplish his purpose in the world. And his purpose is the redeeming of a people from sin, rescuing them by grace through his Son dying and rising. He has his hand in much more than we have aware of.

"Our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name." - v. 20-21

What is your heart glad in today? What brings you the deepest joy? If we're honest we could each name different things that excite and bring joy in our lives - children, marriage, money, accolades, new cars or gadgets... the list is endless. The cry of the Psalmist (and whoever is with him worshiping God) is that God makes his heart glad. Think about that. I often pray for things or events to take place in order to make my life easier or happier. But perhaps what I need to learn and begin praying for is that God would make himself so delightful to me that he would make me glad. By trusting in his holy name - that is, his proven character of grace, mercy, patience, love, faithfulness, forgiveness, and justice (Ex. 34:6-7) - we can delight in him.

Lord, the deepest source of joy is often the very thing that I shun: you. You are the God of all, the One who has made the earth and all that is in it. Make us people who trust so fully in your name, who delight purely in your name, that the world around us would notice something is significantly different in us. Thank you for your faithful love and your salvation. Your counsel and plan will remain forever; I want to fulfill your will for my life personally and your kingdom in general. When I am worried about my future may I remember the words of Psalm 33:22 "Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you." Amen.

My 100th post! The Lord's (or better, Disciples') Prayer

2010-10-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

Anyone who spent more than a few weeks in Sunday school memorized the Lord's prayer. It's got to be one of the top 5 most familiar passages in the Bible, right up there with John 3:16 and a short list of others. Today I was reading the version from Luke 11, which is even shorter than the already short version most people know from Matthew 6. I wanted to share some reflections on it. Before I comment on each phrase, it's important to note that in reality this is the "Disciples' prayer" because it is a prayer model. Jesus did not need to pray for the forgiveness of sin; he instructed his disciples to do so. Maybe that's old news to you, or maybe I just blew your mind with that little piece of information.

Father, hallowed by your name

Jesus begins by telling us who God is. He is Father. This isn't saying that we can't pray to Jesus... in the end, I'm of the opinion that it all gets to the same place. Anyways, the importance is that Jesus revolutionized the concept of God in the first century when he told his disciples call God daddy - "pater" is the Greek, and the more familiar "Abba" is the Aramaic word. Essentially, Jesus is breaking down the false notion that God is only way out there in the universe or unapproachable. He is imminent, meaning near. He is listening. He cares like a good dad cares, and he responds not only like a good dad responds but also with the wisdom that is his because he is God. When you pray, you pray to the Father. But his name is also holy (hallowed) - it is to be revered, never to be abused, and is to be held in high esteem. Only Christianity holds this tension of God as the close and personal God and the God of the universe simultaneously.

Your kingdom come

God's Kingdom had emphatically come in the person and work of Jesus. It is here, a present reality to be experienced and lived in. Yet it is still coming and will one day fully come when God reconciles all things to himself and his people are with him forever in perfect harmony. We need to regularly seek God's kingdom on earth, as members of it who acknowledge God's rule over the whole earth and as ambassadors for it, inviting people to repent and trust in God alone. His kingdom is powerful, for he is the all powerful king.

Give us each day our daily bread

We live in a culture that celebrates, even worships, excess. Bigger is better. Newer is better. More is better. Always. Yet it is our obsession with more and our rejection of "enough" that is leading us deeper into depression, obesity, and greed to name a few. As followers of Jesus we must pray that God makes us content with what is needed today. Truly, God provides more than we need almost every day, and that is his grace. But we cannot associate more with better all the time. We must fight for contentment, for joy to come from God and not from things.

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us

Sin is indebtedness to God... do you get that? We can describe sin in many ways, and one such way is that we owe God our allegiance, love, respect, and worship but give him none of those things. Not naturally. We steal all of those things away from him and are indebted as sinners who deserve his wrath. Jesus' simple instruction is to regularly confess sin and ask forgiveness. The beauty of this is that he doesn't tie it to the sacrificial system but to an earnest plea based on God's loving mercy. And, in return we are rightly expected to be changed by God's forgiveness to forgive others. As Jesus said several times, how can you expect God to forgive you your many sins if you cannot forgive someone, from the heart, of anything they commit against you?

And lead us not into temptation

This phrase has always been a hurdle for me. Why do I need to ask God to not lead me into temptation? James 1:13 tells us that God does not tempt anyone, and other places in Scripture are in harmony with that. So, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, we know it's not as simple as asking God to stop tempting us. I believe Jon Foreman has it right in his song "Your Love is Strong" (great solo song on a great solo album, by the way), when he repeats the Lord's prayer but says "Keep us far from our vices". We are asking God not to allow things to come into our lives that will tempt us to forsake him. For some it may be material wealth, for others it may be business success, accomplishments and recognition, or a fast growing church. None of those are evil in themselves, but anything can be a temptation for us to be prideful and think we did it on our own.

The Lord's prayer has much more application than I've reflected on here, but I hope this is helpful. The point isn't to repeat it daily but to incorporate the themes of God's nearness and greatness, his Kingdom coming and being seen in us as believers, his provision for our needs, his forgiveness of sin, and trusting him to keep us from that which would pull us away from him.

Who is God?

2010-10-24T18:26:00.001-07:00

Recently in class a discussion arose about who God has revealed himself to be in the Bible. Three presuppositions have to be included before going any further in this discussion: First, that there is a God; second, that God has revealed himself; and third, that God has revealed himself in the Bible. I'm aware that many people do not agree with any of these presuppositions, or at least with some combination of them. The point of this post isnot to prove that God exists; nor is it to prove that the Bible is God's word to us and his primary means of revealing himself. Those are excellent and important discussions, they are just not what I'm aiming to accomplish.

So, what am I aiming to accomplish, you ask? The question in class was specifically "when God described himself in the Bible, what was the first attribute he ascribed to himself?" As Dr. Gerry Breshears is fond of doing (at least from what I can see after 6 classes with him), the answer is not what we all thought it was. What would you say is the primary attribute God revealed about himself? And more specifically, where is it recorded in the Bible?

The answer is found in Exodus 34:6-7. And wouldn't you know it, these two verses are the most quoted verses in the Bible by the Bible!Needless to say, I would have gotten that one wrong had it appeared on a test. So, what did God say about himsefl? Check it out:

The Lord passed before him (Moses) and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands (or, the thousandth generation), forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, tot he third and the fourth generation."

The first thing God says about himself is this: I am merciful. Another common word for mercy is compassion, and many translations have that word instead. God, at his heart, is compassionate. He is gracious, he is slow to anger, he is steadfast in his love. This is who God has revealed himself to be! Not a prude, not seeking someone to judge forever, not contentious or a kill-joy. Gracious! Compassionate! Loving! How have we neglected this verse so often? Why do I almost never hear this verse read? Why does the world generally regard the God revealed in the Bible as anything but compassionate?

These are haunting questions for me. I grew up in the church and while I'd like to think that somewhere along the way teachers brought this verse up, I can't remember it. Instead I remember stories that should be reserved for R rated movies (the flood, Daniel in the lion's den, the three amigos in the fire, David and Bathsheba) being put onto flannel graphs. But this isn't about my childhood. It's about the character of God being accurately portrayed. And, shockingly, the place where God reveals his character to us is one of the least recognized but most important passages in the Bible.

But, what about the horrible part at the end of those verses? By no means clearing the guilty, visiting the sin of fathers onto their children. What do we do with that? Verses like this have always been extremely difficult for me to understand, especially considering the fact that in the same sentence God has revealed himself as gracious, loving, and forgiving. Dr Breshear's was very helpful on this subject in class. He gives an analogy: Suppose a father is a drug addict and dealer. And suppose the police find out, arrest him, put him in jail, and send the kids into CPS to be in foster care. The father has been justly punished for his wickedness, but what about the kids? They are impoverished because of his sin. God, in a similar way, does not clear the guilty - meaning, the unrepentant guilty, who do not turn to him in faith that he will forgive. God is just. But the punishment that comes onto people will last for generations. This is because we are in family systems and are not the autonomous individuals we often believer we are in the West. Sin, and righteousness in a similar but opposite way, have effects that are passed down through generations.

The point? It is God's primary character to be gracious, forgiving, and loving. But he will not clear the guilty, because he is just. Grace and justice are partners, not opponents. God's character is not in conflict; he is consistent. And it is that consistent character that led Jesus to the cross. Jesus, who was God in the flesh, died to satisfy God's just demand that payment be made for sin. Yet Jesus took that punishment on himself, extending grace (compassion, mercy, unearned forgiveness) to us who believe in his name for salvation. That's the gospel.

Identity and Worship

2010-10-23T18:08:00.001-07:00

If I asked you who you are, would you know how to answer me? And I don’t mean “what is your name” but who are you? What are you all about? What makes you the person you are today? Could you give me an answer now, after I made it more specific? Truth is, a person knowing who they really are isn’t a given. In fact, to some extent we’ve all lost our true identity.

Because of sin, not a single person lives as we were meant to live. We were created by God to exhibit his character (made in his image), yet we fail to do so. Rather than exhibit his character, we have a twisted character and make decisions every day that indicate we do not know who we are or who God is. Rather than image a God who is loving, gracious, pure, and forgiving, our world is full of people who are self-seeking, believe the universe centers around them, and generally do not give much attention to others outside of their very small group of people they like. We don’t worship God, but choose instead to worship anything but him. In short, we are idolaters.

What is idolatry? It is, quite simply, worshiping something other than God. ”But isn’t the opposite of worship just not worshiping?” No, the opposite of worship is idolatry. As humans we have an insatiable desire to worship. I believe God created us to worship – and just because we fail to worship him does not mean we don’t worship at all. We give our time, money, and emotions away and invest our trust in gods who are not the real God. I’m guilty of this – we’re all guilty of this. No matter how much truth we’ve heard, some of us since we were young children, we will give ourselves away, believing something or someone will give us the identity we are looking for. In the end, whether it takes weeks or decades, this ugly truth rears its head: all that we have hoped in, all that we have staked our identity upon, could not bring us the joy and satisfaction we were seeking.

So, how does Jesus change any of this? Why does the Gospel matter in this situation? It is the good news that you and I are not too far gone, nor is the road a long one to return to the One we were made for. In fact, the gospel is the opposite of religion in this very important regard. In religion, you need to make things up. You need to climb the mountain, you need to pay back your wrongs. Some people believe this is the case with Christianity, but it’s not – at least not biblical Christianity. Over and over Jesus makes the invitation to freely receive his grace. To be sure, sacrifice is involved. But not the sacrifice we think of. The most important sacrifice is the one Jesus made for our sins, on our behalf, when he died on the cross. The sacrifice anyone may make as a Christian, assuming they understand what they’re doing, will be a willing and joyful response of faith to give their lives for the one who gave them life. True life. Identity.

As a Christian, you are a child of God. That’s your identity. You are adopted into the family, through Jesus Christ the Son of God, and have by faith received new life. You are not any of the titles this world wants to give you. They may be compliments – boss, executive, rich, successful, beautiful, and so on. They may be insults – loser, addict, good-for-nothing, and so on. Your identity is found “in Christ” – a phrase often used in the New Testament describing our identity. Do you know him? Have you dropped your false identities? Have you confessed that you’ve worshiped other things than the one true God, trying to make an identity for yourself from those things?

Life's a Garden... Dig It!

2010-10-21T15:40:00.001-07:00

Only the few of you who saw the epic "Joe Dirt" will appreciate the title to this post, and that's OK with me. I can't officially endorse it to the teenage population, but I must saw it's downright hysterical. Anyways, that's not the point of this post. I was finishing up a good book today called "Sacred Pathways" by Gary Thomas and the final chapter got me thinking.Thomas uses an analogy about two women who each plant a vegetable garden side by side. Over a period of six months one of the women generally disregards the garden. She figures it's going to take care of itslelf. She checks on it occasionally but isn't overly concerned about it. There were warning signs of some unhealthy plants but she figured they'd work themselves out eventually. The second woman spent time just about every day tending to the garden. She propped some plants up, gave specific attention to detail for each plant, and did her best to keep weeds out of the area.

Around the time for these vegetables to start producing, which of the two gardens produced more healthy vegetables? The obvious answer would be correct: the woman who took care of her garden. The moral of the story, though, is not in enjoying tomatoes. In fact I hate tomatoes and my wife loves them. But that's for another day.

The moral of the story is in regards to these two women and our own relationship with God. Thomas sums it up well on page 220: "If we tend our garden, we'll have plenty of food with which to feed others. If we give our garden just cursory attention, we may have enough to feed just ourselves. If we completely neglect our garden, we're going to be so hungry we'll become "consumer" Christians, feeding off others." I couldn't agree more with this statement. In my seasons of busier-than-is-good-for-me living, I'm often barely taking the time to nourish my own soul, let alone provide encouragement for those in need of it. I am worried, stressed, and typically self absorbed. There's a garden called a relationship with God that needs attention, but I'm too busy to notice. Conversely, when I'm busy but don't give into the temptation to push time with God aside, I'm actually more full to see the needs of others and lovingly respond.

So, how's your garden going? Are you seeing healthy fruit, enough so that you can enjoy serving others because you being fed by God? Or are you tending to your own matters by yourself, avoiding or neglecting the garden of a great relationship with God? Spend some time thinking about how you best connect with God - maybe by listening to worship music, maybe in silence, maybe by reading chunks of Scripture (this is important no matter how you best connect with him!). There are other ways - prayer walks outside, getting into certain postures like on your knees or raising your hands. Tend to your garden; the Lord is ready to give you more abundance than you think!

Making the Best Use of The Time

2010-10-17T08:16:00.001-07:00

Here is one thing I know of after 26 years: everyone has the same amount of time in each day. Sounds obvious enough, right? The thing that has been bothering me about myself lately is that I'm wasting time. Now, I am a firm believer in "wasting time" to a certain degree. I think you need designate times, particularly on weekends for example, to do nothing. It's called resting, or taking a Sabbath (though Sabbath includes more than just doing nothing). So that's not the kind of wasting time I'm talking about. What I'm being bothered by in my own life is the times I'm choosing trivial, meaningless things above things that could make me more effective for the Lord.

This is a season in my life that many people don't get. I've moved away from many family and friends with my wife for a time of studying, preparing for whatever God would have me to do with the rest of my life. And I'm making pretty good use of the time when it comes to studying and trying to soak up what I'm learning. But I want to do better. The most effective people, in any arena, all have the same 24 hour periods of time that any of us do. What's the difference? They make the best use of their time. To be sure, some people who are "effective" are neglecting some areas of their life - kids, wife, husband, health - in order to succeed in business and/or church. But a great number of very effective people aren't letting other areas slide in the name of being successful. They are just disciplined, making the best use of their time. And, from a Christian standpoint, they know they are doing exactly what God calls them to do.

Ephesians 5:15-17: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

A more literal translation of "making the best use of the time" is "redeeming the time", and I like the emphasis on redeeming. As Christians, we are to use the time God has given us on the earth for his glory, going about the kinds of things he's made us for - accomplishing his will. That will is both general and specific. There are many things all of us are to involved in - helping others, loving people in the name of Jesus, gathering as Christians regularly to worship God, confessing and repenting, and much more. And then there's specific things God has wired us for. And while the easy way out is "It's too confusing for me to know what God has made me for," I believe we need to push beyond that and ask God what he's made us to do. What are you passionate about? What are you good at? What do people encourage you to do? God has wired us in our personality, in are genetic make up, and with spiritual gifts for believers in unique ways to be used for the encouragement of others and for God's Kingdom.

So, I'm going to redeem the time. I still need to put my finger on specifics, but I will. Maybe I need to sacrifice habits that are counter-productive. Maybe I need to pick up more books. Maybe there's things I'm not even aware of. But one thing I do know: God has given me an allotted time on earth before I'm in his presence forever, and I will use this time for his glory.

An Ode to Friends

2010-10-06T14:46:00.001-07:00

Ok, I don't know the definition of "ode" and I'm too lazy to look it up on dictionary.com, so whatever it is, I'm giving it my best attempt.

I've been thinking about my friends a great deal today. Perhaps it started with a text from a dear friend last night talking about listening to Deltron. If you don't know who that is, he is (or was?) a rapper from yester-year who laid down some sick beats. Actually they were ridiculous yet strangely addicting. Brooks, I still have "3030" stuck in my head because of you.

I've got so many friends that it might be impossible to mention them all in one post, so if you read this and feel left out, sorry. I'm going off the top of my head here and just thought I would mention as many people as I can with as many memories as come to mind.

There's Andy, Matt, and Garrett, who each deserve a paragraph by themselves because of so much that I could say about them. The epic tennis and golf mathces in high school when me and Andy would clearly be the better athletes and yet Garrett and Matt somehow managed to win once or twice (feel the sarcasm). The late summer nights swimming at Matt's house and the super-late nights at Andy's house when the 3 of us would watch Matt twitch so bad in his sleep that he would convulse clear off the sofa because he drank like 7 Mountain Dews. Once Matt's body shut down, there was nothing you could do... not even Mountain Dew could revive him.

There's Brooks and Evan, the two most unlikely roommates that somehow fit together like peanut butter and jelly (couldn't think of anything better, sorry). There's the days when Brooks forced us to go on an "adventure" along the cliffs of Point Loma or Ocean Beach, which essentially meant getting your feet jacked up while waves pummeled you into submission. Or the days in La Jolla when we body surfed for hours at Wind and Sea - and the time Evan saved Brooks' life (or was it the other way around) when Brooks wanted to show off his rock climbing skills. And who could forget the amazing and fierce matches with "Hot Shots 3" and "Mario Kart 64". Good times, good times.

There's more PLNU friends, Greg, Jeff, and Bryan in particular, and the one semester in Flex. I may have more memories from my last semester of college because of those guys than any other single semester. Much of it wasn't even stuff we did, but the ridiculous banter that would go on with any combination of the 4 of us and who knows who else who'd find their way in to our apartment. Jeff, the advice you gave me on Metal Gear Solid 3... priceless. Eck, that one time when I jumped on your bed in my sleep and almost killed you... sorry. Greg... you're just lucky it wasn't you.

There's Taylor, the friend who I shouldn't have been friends with according to my mother (though I think she came around). Now that I think about it, none of my friends from Victory thought I should be either. But we beat the odds my friend, we beat the odds. The professional TP jobs we pulled on so many girls (especially the one I can't mention cuz we STILL might get killed if we were ever caught). The overly competitive basketball games on Saturday mornings. And much, much more.

There's Bobby, who packed up for Boston right around the the time song "I think I'll go to Boston" was popular - coincidence? I think not Bobby. But, even so, you and I had some great times and bonded faster than I've bonded with just about anyone. Remember the random sleepover in that huge house I was house sitting for? And how I dominated you in billiards? Awesome.

The PBC friends - adults, students, adult leaders. There truly are too many to mention here. The parents who gave us ridiculous amounts of grace with their kids and my forgetfulness, the students who put up with some pretty bad games (but I had some good ones too!) and the adult leaders who were ever-supportive in every way imaginable. You all contributed heavily to so many memories being some of the fondest in my life.

There's Rick, past or PBC and one of my closest friends. The amount of time he poured into me when he had many other things he could be doing, the nights we had dinner at his home with Elisabeth and others, the trips to Murphy's and the shenanigans we enjoyed up there (especially with you, Thomas!). Rick, you've left an indelible mark on my character, ministry philosophy, and theology... you are forever responsible for how I turn out. Just kidding.... but really, you left your mark.

There's Keith, who even though we were friends in high school we really became good friends in college through multiple 7 hour rides together and then our wives becoming best friends (more on you later Ariana). Perhaps the funniest memory we share between us is that one fateful ride up north when I got so tired (what was it, 10pm?) that I fell asleep... while talking! Fortunately not driving, but who falls asleep while talking?

There's Joe Kappler, who in just one year at PLNU became one of my closest friends and somehow remains that way til this day. Being in Portland has been even more enjoyable because we have more time together buddy!

There's my brother, who although we had our fair share of "I hate my brother" moments as kids is one of my closest friends. Time truly wouldn't suffice to bring up the memories we've had together, the things we've been though together, and the love I feel from him and for him.

There's my dad, who is ever-encouraging and relentlessly optimistic. I call him the "eternal optimist" because of it and love him for it. Dad, I truly do miss your company being hundreds of miles away from you again. But we're looking forward to Thanksgiving!

There's my in-laws, every last one of you. Grant, John, Whitney, Jeff, Lorrie... I literally could not have asked God for a better family to marry into. I'm just very, very thankful. Maybe another time I'll do a whole post on you... but a few sentences will have to do for now.

There's the women who mean so much to the men I've mentioned, and therefore to me. Ariana and her witty, "I'll add skee to anything" ways. Brittany and her great laugh... not to mention amazing desserts. Jen (and Dylan... who's not a woman of course but an man's man) who keeps Matthew in check and thoroughly enjoys good wine with us. There's Christiana (did I spell that right?), who stole Andy's heart and who I wish I was able to know better. There's Carrie, who somehow deals with my brother's antics. I think you enjoy it more than anyone else in the world... at least I hope for your sake you do! There's Anne, who is the perfect compliment to Joe and is the life of the party. There's more, I'm sure - Veronica, Vanessa, the list goes on.

There's one more friend. My wife. My best friend out of all my friends. As many people are aware, she's so much like me at times it's scary. She really is my better half though. She makes me laugh, gives amazing advice, is an incredible chef, and beats me at tennis once in a while too. She's the love of my life and without her I literally do not know what I'd be like today. More could be said... but I'll save the mushy stuff for just her and I.

The point of this all is, I love you guys. I'm thankful for the days we've had together - any memory that I jotted down here is just one among many I had to choose from. It's hard being so far away from nearly everyone we're close to. But, I know that if I were to write something like this in another couple of years I would add a host of new names that I've either just met or haven't yet encountered. God has blessed me abundantly in many ways, one of which is great friends. Again, if you're not on the list, I mean no offense - I just need to get back to studying for a test and this is already getting too long.

Thank you, all of you.

The Beauty... And Danger... of Tradition

2010-09-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

As I get older, there's one thing that becomes increasingly important to me: tradition. In general, I love traditions. Family traditions, cultural traditions, religious traditions, the list goes on. There's something great about many traditions that are handed down, or even ones that become traditions because, well, something was so fun once that we should do it over and over. Traditions also help establish a rhythm to life. There are traditions associated with seasons as well - apples and pumpkins in the fall, Christmas trees and decorations in the winter, and something or other has to be traditional in the spring and summer... I'm just not thinking very creatively about those seasons right now apparently. But the point is, tradition can be a very good thing.

But I've been thinking a little bit as well about tradition in the negative sense. How many times have you discovered that what is wrong with a certain situation is simply a tradition that someone can't seem to let go of? How many churches have split over "traditional vs. contemporary" styles of services, or at least had huge fallouts with letting the declining summer children's Vacation Bible School take a year off to regroup and get stronger? Tradition can become an obsession, and not just for old people. Often times it's little kids who have the hardest time letting go of something they've come to love (even if tradition to little kids is like two or three times).

So, how do we tell the difference between a healthy practice of tradition and an unhealthy dependence (worship, maybe?) of tradition?

There are a few things that come to mind:

First, ask yourself why you are so committed to the tradition. Is it because you thoroughly enjoy it or because you associate self-worth with the tradition?

Second, if the tradition seems to be declining in value for the participants, think about either replacing it or letting it go altogether. For example, if the children aren't as thrilled with the yearly trip to the zoo every first weekend of October, come up with a new family tradition. Or, make it a point to do something every year on that weekend but make it different each year.

Third, pay attention to the emotions that come up when the conversation about ceasing a tradition comes up. Are you defensive? Agitated? Cynical to that point that you swear nothing else could possibly be as good as what you've done for the last decade? If so, you've drifted into the realm of unhealthy dependence on tradition.

All in all, traditions are great. Every time of year brings new traditions for me. When we were in Northern CA, the tradition was to go to Apple Hill at least once in the fall and check out the orchards, wineries, and markets. Now that Fall has officially arrived and we're in Portland, it's time to find a new apple orchard... or perhaps abandon the orchard idea for an Oregonian's fall past time. Now I just have to figure out what that would be.

Loving Great Days

2010-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes great days come unexpectedly, like a sunny day when the forecast predicts rain. Other times you can see them coming from a mile away, like when you are anticipating the vacation-of-the-year for six months (or in the case of my in-laws, 2 years!). Today was of the first variety, a great day that came unexpectedly. Looking back, I should have seen it coming, but for some reason it didn't hit me until recently. It started around noon when Noelle made a surprisingly delicious mahi-mahi on top of a fresh salad (she may blog about it later... but she doesn't blog about her amazing lunches for some reason). Then we headed out to "Edgefield" - a 60+ acre Disneyland for grown ups type of place. The place has a hotel, a couple restaurants, a distillery, pub, winery, two par-3 (a.k.a. "executive") golf courses, movie theater, and probably more that I'm missing. We went the golf and winery route today.

It turned out to be a perfect weather day - slightly cloudy, about 68 degrees, comfortable as can be. We played 9 very short holes of golf (no hole was more than 80 yards... and when some courses have 530 yards on one hole, that's a short course) in about an hour. Noelle played the round of her life and almost made a hole in one!

Yes, she sank the birdie putt.

After golf we toured the vegetable garden before heading the winery where our server was by her lonesome, apparently not expecting anyone at 3:15pm and preparing for the busy time coming in a couple hours. We had some great drinks and shared a plate of spinach and artichoke dip... delightful. It was the perfect afternoon - a surprisingly jovial affair of laughs, good golf shots, and beautiful scenery.

Noelle starts work next Monday, so that's why we decided to take off to Edgefield for the afternoon. The Lord must have known what was in store for us because I honestly could not have planned a better day together. Sometimes you just need a great day when you don't expect it. We've been blessed to have many great days together since moving to Portland - hiking, trying new restaurants, having a best friend visit, getting to know churches and friends. But today was just special for some reason.

Open up your eyes and give thanks to God for great days. And even when days aren't "great"... maybe they're average, maybe there's disappointing for one reason or another, realize that all of life is a gift of God to be lived with a grateful heart.

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Getting Over The Hurdle

2010-09-18T16:55:00.001-07:00

"I'm too busy to _________". How many times have I said that, or thought that, in my lifetime? Hundreds to say the least. And the truth is, at times I AM too busy to do certain things. And then there's the fact that many things are not worth doing. But, here's where I'm going with this: there are many things that are worth doing. Writing, for me, is worth doing. I love sitting at the computer and hammering out a few pages for a paper or a few thoughts on this blog. And yet, I just can't "get over the hurdle" as it were. I write twice a week at best. I think about writing quite a bit, yet I just don't sit down and do it. One author I like, Donald Miller, says (in a book or his blog, I'm not sure) that there are many people who like the idea of writing but don't ever get down to business and write. I want to get down to business and write.

So, how do I get over the hurdle with this one? I've thought about trying to write something every week day, spending at least 30 minutes a day on a topic, Scripture, life experience, whatever. And the truth is that right now I do have the time to do that. I'm in school full time and I am already experiencing school work piling up on me, but I have the time. And here's the last fact: everyone has the same amount of time in a given day. So how do the great ones get great at their craft? Whether it's music, writing, a sport, acting, being a doctor, teacher, lawyer, pastor, the list goes on... the great ones do it by discipline and practice - they say no to things that get them off focus and stay on task. I'm going to be that person.

I want to be great. Not great in the way most people think of it. I want to be "humbly great". Jesus says in Mark 10:43-45 "But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Much could be said here, but my reason for quoting this is that Jesus doesn't scold the disciples for aspiring to greatness... he scolds them for aspiring to worldly greatness which typically exploits, discredits God, and exalts the self. I want to be a great servant. I want to be great. Lord help me.

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Today's Short Devotional: Ongoing Sin and The Power of God

2010-09-13T08:09:00.001-07:00

Colossians 1:11 - "May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy..."

I am often beset by ongoing sin - that attitude, thought, habit that I don't easily shake and from time to time get depressed about, believing the lie that I'm never going to overcome it. But there's good news from God's Word about ongoing sin in a Christian's life: The power of God, which is at work within you, is stronger than any sin.

But it's hard to believe that, isn't it? I woke up this morning with that thought in my head... God, who lives in me and is always present, is always stronger than my sin problem. Keep reading the verses after Colossians 1:11 and you will see that God has "qualified" us to be saints (a normal Bible word for Christians) and he "transferred" us to the kingdom of His son, Jesus Christ. Those are passive words, meaning you receive that action on yourself rather than causing it to happen to you. Your redemption, the forgiveness of your sins, was never based on your qualifications. If anything, those disqualify all of us from ever being in relationship with our Creator. But he has loved us, and by faith in his Son we are washed of our sin (past, present, and future) by his grace and mercy.

So, don't believe the lie. The power of God is stronger than all other powers. Cling to his strength today. Endure temptation, be patient in affliction, remain joyful in the Lord because if you have him, you have enough. Amen.

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Are You Content?

2010-09-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

There is an epidemic in America that is rarely talked about. It's not one that makes national headlines or that has everyone freaking out quite like H1N1 or Anthrax, but I'd still call it an epidemic because of the tragic consequences it secretly causes in so many lives. I'm talking about the epidemic of being discontent.

Think I'm overstating the case? Being a little over-dramatic? Ok, I'll admit it's possible. But think about it. So many billions of dollars are spent every year because people are not content with who they are, where they live, what they own, and who they hang around. As I've heard it said several times before, the fundamental goal of marketing is to show you a product or experience, convince you that your life is not good without it, and then tell you how to get it. Think about that next time you see a Snuggie infomercial, a Bo-Flex machine commercial, or a car commercial. Everyone is obsessed with finding that one thing that will make them more happy, more content, satisfied with the direction their life is heading.

And, truth be told, I'm often no different. I don't always notice it as discontentment, but it's there. Often I just feel like it's a random impulse to buy something or do something. But when I reflect back on it - many purchases I made without planning for it, for example - I realize the root of it is a discontent heart. But what am I going to do about it? How do I move from discontent to content? Is there really anyone who can be truly content?

It is here that the Apostle Paul has some inspiring words for us. Difficult, but inspiring. In Philippians 4, as he is closing out the letter and thanking the Philippian church for their generosity, Paul mentions something extraordinary. He says "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." These are beautiful words of a content man. Why so content?

Paul was content because he had been radically changed by the Gospel. He had became intensely aware of what God had done for him in Christ. He knew that as long as he had Jesus, he had all that he needed. Here's the thing: in my own heart, I know that as I typed that last sentence it doesn't describe me. I often want "Jesus + _______" You name it and I feel like I need it. Just one more thing - a bit more money, some more clothes, a nicer car, whatever. But Paul was writing from prison and yet he knew how to endure and be content because he knew his Savior guarantees he is always present PLUS there is eternity awaiting, when we'll be in God's presence forever. And that is enough.

So, what's the secret to contentment? How do we cure ourselves? We focus on the Gospel. We look to the cross. We realize we've been fooled and fooled ourselves into believing lies about what we need and repent. Paul knew it... not because he worked "hard" at it, but because he had been changed so thoroughly that it was true in his life.

Lord help us.

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What I'm Reading: Lectures to My Students

2010-09-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers of the 19th century, or probably any century for that matter. He was a full time pastor from the age of 19, and is thought of as having one of the first true "mega-churches" in the world. The church was easily over 5000, and that was quite an accomplishment considering they didn't have many advancements in technology we have today. He also started a college for training pastors, and many of his lectures were compiled into a great book I'm reading called Lectures to My Students.

Spurgeon has many incredible things to say in the book, but what I'm reading about right now is what he calls the need to be "decisive". Essentially it's the need for people - not just pastors - to have resolve in their beliefs and not be shaken from them. And it got me thinking quite a bit about what I'm resolved to believe in. Spurgeon laments the wishy-washy (I made that up, he didn't say it that way) theology of many pastors and the defiance of many educational institutions toward objective truth. And this is in the 19th century... I can only imagine what he'd say about the 21st century! The strength with which he preached and the strength which come leaping off the pages of his writing is something I absolutely aspire to.

So, what are you resolved to believe in? And, how does it affect the way you live out your life in the day to day? This is what I'm thinking about specifically right now. Because, truth be told, the life we lives declares with much greater force what we believe than anything we declare with our mouths. For an easy example, the guy who weighs 400 lbs because he eats fast food twice a day has serious health risks, yet he claims to be in the best shape of his life. We'd all say that he is delusional, or at least that his words and actions don't match up. It won't take much of a test to see that what he says is the lie; how he lives is the truth. In the same way, how I'm living today is the truth of what I believe. Do I believe Jesus is Lord over all? Do I live with a grateful heart, or with an attitude of presumption as if God owes me something? Do I really worship God or is my daily life suggesting that I worship money, comfort, pleasure, and so on?

These are big questions, but they are important ones. I appreciate Spurgeon's resolve to force his students to dig deep and really take a look at their life to see if what they declare they believe indeed matches up to the way they are living. We would be wise to do the same.

What I'm reading: Surprised By Joy

2010-09-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Few people influenced the world with the written word like CS Lewis in the 20th century. His style, his imagination, his wit, and his depth of writing were captivating for millions of Christians who still recommend Mere Christianity to anyone interested in the core of the Christian faith; or for weightier matters there are amazing works like The Weight of Glory. On the fiction side, many people sadly do not know that The Chronicles of Narnia were written by Lewis with a provocatively Christian message woven within the elaborate storyline. And I should confess now that I only read one of the books in the series as a child (I still haven't gotten into reading fiction... maybe one day when I grow up).

But for all of his incredible writing and the global popularity which he still has even 40 years after his death, it wasn't until recently that I read his own personal autobiography, Surprised By Joy. In it Lewis describes primarily the first 20 year of his life - the schools he went to and what he thought of them, the relationship he had with his father and brother, and some key relationships along the way. It is filled with all of Lewis' elaborate descriptions and Irish (yes, Irish... he lived most his life in Britain but was born in Ireland) humor. Some of it, to be honest, goes either over my head or just is lost on me altogether. But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the book, particularly the last third as he speeds up the process how he came to faith in Christ. It's an incredibly honest appraisal of faith - from denying the generic religion he grew up with in his family, to rejecting any idea of God on the basis of reason or science, to ultimately realizing his arguments had gaping holes, life was without meaning if there was no God, and only Christianity can legitimately account for some of the deepest questions humans wrestle with.

The main point I want to make here, however, is the number of relationships Lewis had with Christians before becoming a Christian. Every school he went to from his teenage years onward had at least one or two people who were Christians - people who Lewis wrote off immediately for the most part, but eventually people who he respected. These were thinking people, reasonable people in his mind, who believed in the supernatural, had a faith in Christ which did not remind him of the stuffy religion he remembered as a child, and seemed to love Lewis though he rejected (for a time) their "superstition". And, most importantly to me, they knew their faith and talked about it.

Just about everyone I know had at least several friends or family members who were Christians before they became Christians. Sure, some people have the testimony of "a friend took me to church and I became a Christian the first night I went", and that's an excellent story. Most people, however, are more prone to go to church because they were invited, be interested, ask questions (often big, difficult-to-answer questions), feel a sense of the presence of God in their lives and the truth of the Gospel message, and then trust Christ as Savior. But, the key in almost every story is relationships. And that's what I want to be about in my evangelism. Relationships and conversations. Not just friendships where we get together, enjoy good food and drink, and go home (not every time at least). But the kind where we really get to know each other. The kind where I ask questions of what they believe in, what matters most to them, what they think about God, and so on. I want to be winsome in my ability to direct a conversation towards Jesus. I feel like Lewis was that way. Man, I wish I could have met the guy.

Paideia: Theological Method

2010-08-31T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first class at Western Seminary... at least the first class of my full time attendance at the actual location in Portland. To be honest, it didn't strike me that I was starting school at all yesterday - I'd become pretty comfortable hanging out with Noelle all day, going on walks, runs, bike rides, playing tennis, and so on. I knew it would have to end come August 30th, but sort of didn't want it to. So when I went to class from 6-10 pm last night, it was a bit of a rude awakening.

One of the bigger topics we covered last night was Theological Method - that is, which approach someone takes when studying a topic of theology. The truth is that everyone has a theological method even if they don't refer to it as that, or if they don't use the three formal categories I'm going to present. But perhaps that's why understanding your theological method (and considering the downsides of each) can be so important - it may help you understand better why some people are content with conclusions and others aren't. Let's dive in.

The three Theological Methods are "Deduction", Induction", and "Retroduction". Let's define these ideas and then get into the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Deduction: this method is employed when someone pursues the thoughts and expertise of a more learned person than themselves. So, when someone approaches a pastor or professor, or picks up a commentary or a book, this is deduction. The key is this: the deduction method typically means receiving the person's (or perhaps a few people's) thoughts on a matter to be authoritative and becomes the person's position.

Induction: this method is used when someone comes across a topic or difficulty in theology, puts away all commentaries and human assistance, and solely digs into the Bible to find an answer. The goal is to come up with a Biblical argument for something based on your own personal research and prayer in the Scriptures.

Retroduction: this method occurs when someone comes across an issue, seeks opinions from multiple sources who most likely disagree with one another, and does their best to reach a personal conclusion based on which resonates the best with Scripture. An example would be the question "What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" and asking four or five different denominations for answers, comparing them with Scripture, surveying the answers, and finding out which one had the least "holes" in their argument according to Scripture.

So, which method is best? First off, each method does have good biblical basis and perhaps each method is right in certain circumstances. Hebrews 13:17 speaks about coming underneath the teaching of an elder/pastor (deduction); Acts 17:11 refers to the Berean Christians studying Scripture for themselves to validate the preaching of the Apostles (induction); and Acts 15 recounts a story in which Pharisees, Paul, Peter, James, and others gave their thoughts regarding the necessity of circumcision to be in the family of faith, compared them with Scripture, and made a conclusion (not that they all made the same conclusion) - this is retroduction.

Each method is also not without its own set if potential dangers. If you rely too heavily on one or two people's opinions and they are wrong, then you're led astray easily because you adopt their views without thinking. If you hole up and shove away the wisdom from theologians or pastors and only take the "me and God will figure it out" approach, you may not have the necessary knowledge or interpretation ability to come up with a solid, biblical answer. And if you get too many opinions (retroduction gone wild) from other perspectives, even if they are all Christian groups who believe Scripture to be their highest authority, you might get so much knowledge about something that it's impossible to really come up with a consensus.

In the end, my professor is a Retroduction kind of guy. Get several opinions on a matter, seek God's Word, discover the strongest position, and come up with a conclusion. He sees this method as sort of marrying the first two together: you're not just relying on one brain (yours or one other person's), but you're not pushing everyone away and falsely believing you can come up with the answer on your own. Your going to God's Word, hearing other people, and moving forward. Perhaps this is sort of "teacher's pet" of me to say, but I'm convinced this is the right method as well. Truth be told, "retroduction" was a brand new word to me last night... but I think that's been my approach for a long time.

A new blog topic series: Paideia

2010-08-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

So I've been sort of slacking on blogging with topical themes, but I'm going to renew that plan starting this week. Now that I started seminary officially, there is a plethora of opportunities to regurgitate what I'm learning and help people as best I can. By writing out some of what I'm learning, I'll also learn it better and more permanently.

So, what in the world is "paideia"? It's the ancient Greek word for "education", and I thought it would be fitting to name this series after education - I'm diving back into education through seminary and want to help educate people with what I'm learning. I'm sure I won't be able to sum up everything as good as many of my professors will do it, but hopefully by reviewing my notes and doing the assigned reading, I'll be able to come to a good knowledge of a wide variety of topics.

So, I hope this is helpful. My tone in this series will be far less opinion based and more factual - more of a teaching format. Thanks

Thoughts on Broken Glass

2010-08-25T10:37:00.001-07:00

It was 2:11pm Monday afternoon. We were spending our afternoon as we've spent most of our afternoons since moving to Portland: not doing too much, with something planned later in the day. On this day, we were going to go golfing around 4:00pm and were sort of just hanging out. I was in the second bedroom dinking around on the computer - you know, checking Google Reader, ESPN, Facebook... dinking. Noelle was taking care of a few things (so she says) and also on her computer. Suddenly, a sound of a couple glasses breaking. My first thought is "Oh no, she broke another glass while cleaning it". Then, a split second later, the absolute loudest sound I'd heard in a really long time. It sounded like a hundred things came crashing down all at once in our living room. Noelle let out a scream more piercing than I'd ever heard from her. I think I flew to the living room in .03 seconds, expecting to find Noelle motionless on the ground with glass all over her. Fortunately I found her standing next to the broken glass, hands covering her face, shocked at what had transpired. Somehow, the glass shelf that our glasses (wine glasses, champagne, china glasses from my mother and from our own set) were on in our china hutch had come off its hinge and every last glass broke against either the floor or, more likely, other broken glasses. Except two. Somehow, the cheapest and least meaningful glasses had survived - two champagne glasses from Rogers Jewelers that I'd been given because I was with my buddy Keith shopping while he looked for diamond earrings for his wife (every guy needs a wingman in those kind of places). Thanks, Rogers.

It took over 30 minutes to clean it up and even then we couldn't be sure we got it all. We should probably vacuum five more times, very slowly, hoping to get the little shards of glass that might remain hidden until the opportune time when some nice new friend comes over for dinner, takes off their sandals, and gets somehow gashed in the bottom of their foot and sends us the $2000 medical bill. Just sayin'. Anyways, it was a pretty upsetting experience because many of those glasses carried sentimental value to them. Some were from wine/food events in towns like Murphys, Fairplay, and a recent one near Portland. Some were from my mother's china collection, and weren't wine glasses but we used them for fun desserts and stuff. Others were fairly expensive parts of our own china collection. But, as good Christians we just said "Oh well, it's just material things". But, to be honest, I'm still sincerely bummed about the "stuff" we lost. I'm an experience-over-possessions guy, until a possession that is attached to a great experience is gone through a freak glass breaking accident. Then I think about how instead of drinking out of cool memory-filled glasses, we are now drinking out of glasses we went and bought cheap at Fred Meyer (a store similar to Target).

But, the truth is, it was just stuff and stuff always breaks. Electronics (which we pay much more for than wine glasses) rarely last more than 3-5 years - I say it's a conspiracy and makers of electronics "don't make 'em like the used to" on purpose so you spend more money. Food rots, furniture gets old and uncomfortable, clothes get holes in them (even though people pay more money for pre-made holes in jeans, go figure), and everything else breaks, burns, wilts, or goes bad in some form or another. And it got me thinking about brokenness in general and how fragile everything really is. Seriously, everything. Well, except for some materials and compounds that seemingly never get broken, but for the sake of the argument we'll say everything. And that's not more true in anything than our human bodies.

Have you ever stopped to think about how fragile you are? We get sick from little organisms that powerful microscopes can barely see. We get gashed on the foot by little pieces of glass hidden in carpets. We slip and break bones. We are so fragile yet we tend to spend such little time thinking about it or acting like we're fragile. Instead we tend to pretend we'll be around forever and even have the audacity to just assume we'll make it home, even when home is just a few miles away (I read once that the majority of auto accidents happen within 1 mile of home).

All I'm saying is, don't take it for granted. Don't take people for granted that you love. Don't take your health for granted, or even if you're not healthy don't take the fact that you're still breathing for granted. Make it count. Know your Creator, Sustainer and Lord, love him, walk with him, and trust in him. Thank him for all the "stuff" you have, and pray that God makes sure you don't get more attached to the stuff rather than him or other people around you. Think about the miracle of your body working properly so you can move around. You're not an accident, though accidents do happen to you.

All this reflection came from a bunch of glass breaking? Yes.

Just Some Thoughts

2010-08-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

I told Noelle recently that this month will likely be the strangest month of our entire marriage, no matter how long God gives us to be together. It's seriously an amazing and weird thing at the same time. Here we are, having waited for this month to arrive for about a year and a half when neither of us would have a real job and would move to Portland. We'd have a few weeks before I start school on the 30th, and we'd enjoy ourselves. And we have very much enjoyed ourselves. Trying new restaurants, hiking to Mirror Lake (near Mt Hood), arranging our home, going to an awesome food and wine festival, seeing a movie, camping for a night near the coast, going to the Tillamook Factory (they have amazing ice cream too, by the way), and more. Yet so much of our time has honestly been spent doing almost nothing, and we've grown a little restless.

Imagine that... the Ritters are growing restless with nothing to do. We are definitely creatures of habit, thriving on the detailed schedule even though we think we want less scheduling in our lives. While this has no doubt been one of the most wonderful months in our lives, it's also been so strange that we need it to be over fairly soon or we'll really get antsy. But maybe that's just what God has for us right now - learning how to do less, how to enjoy each other more (not that we didn't before), and how to take in all the sights and sounds of a new city.

So, we wait. We wait for school to start and for Noelle to start work wherever God provides the work. And while we wait, we'll have fun. We're missing the people we love in CA, the memories we made there and the life we had. But we're also filled with anticipation. It won't all be easy, but it will be beautiful because we know without a doubt that this is where God has us to be. And when we are restless, we'll remind ourselves this is an unusual month and is a gift from God. So, thank you God, and may we never forget you have been preparing us for this in more ways than we will ever know.

Grace and peace to you

2010-08-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

I love the way the Apostle Paul starts most of his letters to churches in the New Testament. Almost every one of them begins with something like "Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." That's how he starts Philippians, which I started reading this morning. Every once in a while I pause when I read these phrases and just think how people must have felt when they read that from Paul for the first time. Most Christians in that time period were not favored politically, socially, or any other way. Christianity was relatively new and still viewed as the red-headed step child of the Jewish faith. Most people didn't understand that it was the continuation of God's eternal plan to announce the Kingdom of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But that's for another time.

Imagine it for yourself. You're in Philippi, huddled into a small building or even more likely in another Christian's home (many churches were in homes at that time), and someone just brought a letter from Paul who is currently in prison. Paul, who started the church in Philippi probably 5 or more years ago. Paul, who was one of few well-known Christians at the time. Paul, who suffered mightily in the name of Jesus, preaching the Gospel everywhere he went and who always had a soft spot in his heart for this little flock. What is he going to say? How is he doing? What is his mood going to be? The questions are answered immediately when Paul extends a warm greeting to the church: grace and peace to you.

Those two words are words that should stir the soul of every Christian. Why? Because they sum up the theme of the Gospel better than perhaps any other two words can. Grace: you have been received by the Creator of the Universe as one of his children. God has dealt kindly with you, placing the wrath you deserved on the Son, Jesus Christ. You haven't earned your way into this relationship - in fact, you've done everything to keep yourself OUT of the relationship. But you've been brought in, loved, and given grace. And now Paul offers you grace again from God. God didn't only give it to you once, at the moment of salvation, he gives it to you continually on earth until the day you see him face to face and enjoy unending grace for eternity.

Peace: you have been made right with God through Jesus Christ. God reconciled you when you were his enemy. Paul has unpacked this for us (I don't know that the Philippians had the book of Romans) in Romans 3-5 in majestic fashion - read it sometime if you haven't... or even if you have, do it again for good measure. God has re-created you, given you new life and peace in the name of Jesus. You can rest your soul on the work Christ did on the cross. And, like grace, peace is not a momentary feeling you have only at the moment of your redemption. It is being given to you even now. It is available always, even in the darkest hour of your life. Even when you're unloved, when earthly relationships are not peaceful, when your job is stressful and unfair. God's peace is given to you at every moment.

Grace and peace to you. Take a moment to dwell on these words further, ask God for more insight on what the words mean for you today. How has he shown you grace and peace lately? How would you describe God's peace to someone who doesn't have the slightest clue as to what it feels like? Give it some thought, and I'd love to hear what you come up with!

10 years ago today

2010-08-14T15:19:00.001-07:00

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of my mother seeing God for the first time... and she's been seeing him ever since. Pat Ritter was an extraordinary woman, not perfect by any means but a woman who loved God, fought cancer hard, loved others well, and left a deep impact on many people. She was a strong willed woman, not afraid of controversy but not looking for it either. Whenever I would argue with her (which was quite often as a teenager), I knew I'd lost the argument when she would say "Fine, do whatever your little heart desires." That one always got to me and I would concede victory to her over whatever trite thing we were fighting about.

It's hard to believe that 10 years has gone by since her life slipped away at Kaiser hospital in Roseville, CA. It was approximately 6:00pm, though that was the culmination of about 6 days in the making of her actual departure from this world. There are many vivid memories of those final days with her - the dozens of people that poured in every day, flooding out of her room and into the hallway, causing a bit of a scene as if to say "this is no ordinary woman we are about to lose here". The brief conversations she had with loved ones while she was strong enough to have them. The way she worried about me being only 16 - and trust me, she had plenty to worry about! For the most part time has flown by and every time August 14th rolls around I find myself saying "It's been that long already?" But indeed it has. While for me the pain has dissipated and the piercing questions about life and death - its timing and God's purpose in it all - have come and gone, one thing has become utterly clear: God is faithful.

God's faithfulness has been my favorite characteristic about God for quite a few years now. After a stint of about two years mostly running from his presence, seeking to fill the void of my mother with busy activities, friends, girls, and the like, upon growing up a little and reflecting on these past years I've witnessed God's immense faithfulness in many ways. The most important ways are the ones you can't necessarily measure, in my opinion. The way he sustained me emotionally and spiritually and continues to do so, though the strongest person in my life was taken from me at a very tender and treacherous age. The way he has firmly rooted his love toward me in my heart, shown me grace when I've continually strayed, and used my experience and pain to bring others hope, comfort, and even some wise perspective (now THAT'S a miracle!). He has been faithful and present, and though not all the questions are answered, I've realized I don't need all the questions answered. I'll be interested to ask God some big questions in Heaven, but by the time I get around to them there won't be any pain left in the questions, only joy that I am in the presence of the Lord.

So, 10 years down and still marching on. People die every day, and God is faithful every day. Life is an amazing blend of comedy and tragedy, and without faith in a good, holy, gracious God I truly don't understand how people cope with it. If reality has hit you square in the face recently through difficult times, know this: God is with you and is faithful. If you're running from him, turn around and receive grace. If you're hiding from him, expose yourself and your sin to his forgiveness. If you're angry with him, realize you are incredibly finite and are dealing with an infinitely wise and just God, full of mercy. If you're resisting him, just stop it already. If you can't see his faithfulness, at the very least admit you are not faithful to him and are probably not opening your eyes to see his faithfulness.

I love you mom, and I miss you. I'll see you one day though, and I'm VERY excited about that moment.

New Places

2010-08-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

For quite some time now, my favorite destinations have been new places. I love going somewhere I've never been because that will mean that every experience I have in that place will be brand new. If we dine out at local restaurants, it will be the first (and maybe only) time I'll be at the restaurant. If we go to a local park, the same follows. For example, when Noelle and I were in Boston in April, everything was new. Just about everything we did was brand new to me. We even got to spend 24 hours in Newport, Rhode Island - a place I enjoyed thoroughly but will likely never be able to visit again.

I say all of this because this new city we are in, Portland, is sort of like one of those trips for me. Almost everything we are doing right now is new to us - new pizza joints, a local brewery restaurant, a new church, a run along the Wilamette River at Waterfront Park, and more. But the trick right now is that we are trying to call this new place home. It's far from Sacramento, where I grew up, and it's far from Monterey where Noelle grew up. It's much different than San Diego where I went to school and Azusa where Noelle went. But, nonetheless, we are calling it home. We have "home" programmed into our GPS and we refer to our new apartment as home already, but it's all so new.

I feel as if God has been preparing me to love new places for at least the past year because many people seem to prefer familiar things to new things. Not me. I prefer new things - foods I've never tried, music I've never heard, events I never knew existed. I prefer them over familiar stuff, and maybe that's been God's grace to me. In a city this large, it will take quite some time before things aren't new to me. Maybe in time this will be truly home. Maybe not. I'll leave that up to the Lord - wouldn't I be foolish to do anything else? For now Noelle and I are going to enjoy the next 3 weeks of having less to do than we've ever had in our married life so far. And we'll keep soaking up these new experiences.

This Is It

2010-07-28T22:41:00.001-07:00

This is it - all the time we've been preparing for, at least 18 months, is upon us.

This is it - all the prayer that has gone into a huge life transition has been fulfilled.

This is it - all the conversations about "our future in Portland" are over because the reality is we are IN Portland.

This is it - we have uprooted from many loved ones, many loved places, and many loved memories in order to follow the call of God for me to continue my education.

This is it - all my optimism about school, about studying, and about diving into the community of seminary are going to be put to the test to see if we will really go for it.

This is it - there are many uncertainties that only God knows and we need to trust that He has not only prepared us for the move itself but for our entire experience we are going to have.

This is it - my aspirations about seeking the Lord in a new place, and about loving my wife well while we experience this together is real.

This is it - I'm not sure what surprises are around the corner, but that's the thing about corners... you NEVER know what's around them!

This is it - God is good, He is with us even now, he will provide both the resources for me to finish and the relationships we need to grow, and he will surprise us along the way.

This is it. And not in the Michael Jackson movie kind of way, but in the Chris Ritter kind of way (whatever that means!). We are supported by the prayers of people all over the place, and especially in California. Right now some of them may wish we will come back soon and some of them are thinking this day couldn't have come soon enough. But either way, we are covered in love and are feeling it strongly. We know we will prevail, even though there will be suffering, because we have a God who always makes sure we do. We'll stumble, we'll fail, we'll succeed and we'll rejoice. But whatever the outcome after this, I must say that I'm happy this time has come and God has really made this all happen. I'm immensely grateful for this opportunity and I'm sad to be gone from so many wonderful people all at the same time.

We love you.

Airports

2010-07-21T13:39:00.001-07:00

Sitting in an airport and waiting for a flight always reminds me of two things about our world: it is incredibly diverse, and it is amazing that I'm about to fly. I think airports show you the most interesting and unique people you'll ever see all crammed into one place with nothing to do but wait. Directly across from me is a family with 3 kids, for example - one looks to be about 20, another maybe 15, and another about 12. I just found out (because I can hear them talk) that they are with their grandparents. Where are they flying? Home? Vacation? Visiting relatives? The options are endless. As people walk to and fro, I wonder what they are thinking about too - are they excited to go home, bummed they are traveling for work again, glad they get to leave their kids for a few days, flying to a funeral? Again the options are endless. Then there's the part of the game that is slightly more judgmental... trying to figure out what they do for a living, how much money they have or don't have, and what their interests or talents are. I don't always go there, but usually Noelle and I will if we are waiting together; but, alas, I'm flying alone for the first time in years.

Second, I think about the amazing reality of flying. Have you ever looked up at a plane flying overhead and realized there's maybe 150 or more people in that thing? What looks like the size of your fingernail is actually huge, heavy, and somehow flying through the air at an incredible speed. For most of human history nothing like that has been seen flying through the air (unless you believe in UFO's, in which case you'd say it's been happening a while), but for the past 100+ years it's become more and more common, and now we can't imagine life without the ability to fly. I mean, I'll be flying to San Diego, 530 miles away, and will get there in just over an hour. An hour! Ridiculous. Awesome. I love flying.

Endings and New Beginnings

2010-07-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Leaving things you love is remarkably difficult. Knowing that the decision is the right one doesn't make it any easier, though this is the situation I find myself in. Four years ago I was given an opportunity to begin a youth group at a new church, a church that I knew very little about except that they were excited to just have someone be the youth pastor of their kids. So we started out with a handful of kids, quite a bit of prayer, and an adventurous spirit. What has transpired since June of 2006 has been a miraculous journey filled with friendships, salvation, reconciliation, joy, and some heartache mixed in as well to be sure. But all along the way it has been worth it every moment.

I was 22 when I took the job at Providence Bible Church, feeling quite youthful as a recent college graduate. I was also very hopeful that I'd be able to see some quick growth in the youth group... you know, somewhere in the 40-50 student range. Funny thing was, that wasn't what God had planned and it honestly wasn't at all what I needed. Those first few months were filled with quite a bit of anxiety, as I was unfortunately equally as interested in being cool in the kids' eyes as I was with honoring the Lord with what kind of ministry was happening. But slowly, given some time and patience on the part of the Lord, I grew. And with me, my wife, the adult volunteers, and the students. That first year we saw quite a few new faces, and by God's grace many of them stuck and became foundational moving forward. The Regans, Shelnutts, Jackie, Stordahls, and more were added beyond the original students at the church, all of whom God used in my life to encourage and strengthen me. Losing that first batch of seniors was far more difficult than I thought it would be. After just one year, I was shocked at how attached I'd become to these kids - I'll never forget just flat out breaking down as I was trying to talk at their graduation party.

The youth group continued to gain momentum over the next couple of years, as we had just one lone senior in the group in '07-08. That was a phenomenal time in the ministry - kids maturing, inviting friends to events, thinking of ways to serve, establishing a student ministry leader team, and so on. It was a pleasure meeting with kids one on one, or in groups, or however I could - going to football games, school plays, and the like. The Lord was so faithful to provide adult leaders who loved the students as well - whenever one good adult leader would step down for whatever reason, we'd see another one or two take their place soon thereafter.

As I look back on this past year, I really see the fruit of the past 4 years mixed in with the seeds planted for the next 4. Students who were 10 when I arrived are now entering high school; 7th and 8th grade guys from that original junior high group are now juniors and seniors. I'm blown away at the unity of this group and the way it has come to mean so much to them, and so much to Noelle and I. Even though we believed God was preparing us well in advance (He knows our dependency on some forewarning with these things!) for the next phase of our lives, we loved the students deeply and wanted to see them continue to grow. We've seen new families plugging in just like what was happening in '06, and now they have a great new leader in Steve to have their kids pastored by. I'm eternally grateful for the work God has done, the way we've been loved, and the send off that is happening even now.

No, it will not be easy to leave, even though we know the timing is right. But God is moving at PBC and is not going to stop doing so once we're gone. Truth be told, I believe the influx of new couples, families, and leadership is only going to spark more mission in the church and more unity in the body. It will be beautiful to hear about how things are going, even if from 600 miles north. We will not leave without tears and aching hearts. But we will leave hopeful for our lives that God is leading and the life of this great family at PBC.

Just gonna say it

2010-05-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so here's what I'm realizing: there are seasons in life when some things that I really want to do I just don't get to do very much of. Take, for example, this season in my life. I'm now less than two months away from the biggest move in my life, and there are MANY things to keep busy with. I've been preparing a sermon for Sunday, prepared a talk for Wednesday night, and taking a course for seminary online. Now, to be sure, I've also been able to enjoy myself - I was able to play golf with a bunch of pastors on Monday for the "Pastors Masters" event, and tomorrow I get to do a little wine tasting with the Sissons. So that's all great.

All this being said, I just don't have time to consistently blog and I need to admit it to myself. So, no one needs to read this, it's just that once I get it out there it's more real, ya know? Like when you know something is wrong in your life but you aren't changing it because you're not telling anyone... and then that moment comes when you tell someone and you say out loud that you're going to change. You have a much better chance at success in my experience when that happens. So, I've just got to admit that while I love writing, I'm not going to be able to do it consistently for the next few months. Now, who's to say I'll have tons of time to do it once I start school full time and am living in new city? I guess we'll just have to figure that one out.

But, the good news is that I've now admitted it and can be OK with it. There, I said it.

Theology: Marriage

2010-05-21T09:21:00.005-07:00

This past Wednesday night in youth group we discussed marriage. To be sure, it is truly impossible to cover all the important aspects of marriage in just one night. That's the case with all of the big topics we are covering in this "final series" before Noelle and I move. However, that doesn't mean some important things can't be said. It's just saying that not everything can be said. With that in mind, here's a little review of what we talked about

We covered three important questions that I believe kids are asking about marriage: What is God's purpose for marriage? Why is it unwise to marry someone who doesn't believe in Jesus? What happens when people get divorced?

First: What is God's purpose for marriage? Genesis 2:24 gives us a very important recap of marriage - "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." The "one flesh" idea will come back later on. But we see from the creation of the world that God created marriage to be a blessing to humanity, to glorify himself, and to be the best means by which to raise children. Marriage is a great blessing! It is hard work, to be sure, but to enjoy your marriage is one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed upon mankind. Having a strong, healthy marriage is the key to getting through the worst of times (speaking from a marries perspective, that is). And having a bad marriage makes any of the best of times difficult. God has also made marriage to glorify himself. When two people come together who love him and love each other, it's hard to find a better testimony of God's love, grace, patience, and forgiveness in action. Marriage sharpens two people together, it is the furnace through which God burns off sinful attitudes, selfish tendencies, and wrong belief. God also intends marriage to be the most beneficial way to raise children - two people lovingly bringing God's creation into the world to love the child, nurture him/her, and help them know Jesus.

Second: Why is it unwise to marry someone who doesn't love Jesus? Surprisingly enough, you will not find a verse that says "You can't marry a non-Christian!" This does not mean there aren't excellent reasons why you should avoid doing so, however - it's just important to be honest and know that there isn't a direct statement in the Bible like that. One of the best verses that helps us understand why we should avoid marrying a non-Christian is 2 Corinthians 6:14 - "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." What does it mean to be "unequally yoked"? The farming imagery is used to describe something like an ox and a donkey being tied together (yoked) to plow a field. If two completely different animals are tied together, the work will be nearly impossible to do - they have different purposes, strengths, and are going to move in different directions. For a more extreme example, think horse and bunny... that one wouldn't go well for the bunny! The principle for marriage is that, if you marry a non-Christian, you are marrying someone with totally different values, beliefs, and expectations. You WILL move in different directions in life - and honestly, the most likely scenario is that the Christian will eventually give in and not lead a Christ-centered life. It is unwise because to join your life so closely with someone who doesn't share your love for God is to tie yourself up in immediate and long lasting conflict, and it is (mot likely) going to be very difficult to be a good witness together of the character of God.

Finally, what happens when people get divorced? We turned to Mark 10:1-12 for this one, where the pharisees test Jesus and ask him his thoughts on divorce. Moses had permitted men to give a certificate of divorce to their wives - a pretty easy process it seems! Jesus informs them that it was because of their hard hearts that this ended up being allowed, but from the beginning of creation (he quotes Gen. 2:24) God intended the two to become one, and says that what God joins together, no man should tear apart. And divorce is just that, a tearing apart of our lives because we have become one in life and purpose with the person we marry. Jesus equates divorce and remarriage (I know there is controversy over this, but sometimes that can't be entered into on nights like these) with adultery - there is still a life long commitment made before God to love this person until one of you dies. And that doesn't change in God's mind just because the state signs off on your divorce... harsh as that sounds. Divorce tears away at the fabric of our lives - like two pieces of paper glued together cannot be cleanly separated but will tear apart, so too with people's lives when there is divorce. Is there forgiveness available? YES! Is there healing that happens? YES! God is gracious, yet we need to understand that it is painful and not as God intended.

All in all, I hope it was a helpful night - it was helpful for me to (hopefully) put these big issues into fairly brief answers. Marriage is wonderful, fun, messy, hard, and beautiful at all times. Are you married? Bless your spouse today and thank God for him or her. Are you single? Ask God to make you into the kind of man or woman who will make an excellent and Godly spouse one day.

Theology: Does God Care More About Christians Than Non-Christians?

2010-05-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

Does God care more about Christians than non-Christians? This is an excellent question worthy of our attention for many reasons. It is also a bit of a dangerous one. What I mean is that the way we answer it will have a direct impact on how we treat people. That is to say, what we believe about who God loves and doesn’t love will inevitably have an effect on how we think about people and how we treat people. So, what’s the answer to this challenging question? This is something many people struggle with for years, so a clear and simple answer simply can’t be given in one brief reflection on the subject. That being said, I do believe we can come to see some very important truths about ourselves and about God by looking at three truths from God’s Word.

First, the truth that God gives “Common Grace” to all people. “What is common grace” you ask? Common grace is the term we use to describe how kind, loving, patient, and generous God is towards all people. This is a vital truth for us to see. God is gracious to everyone. How so? Well, if we believe the Bible’s testimony that all men are absolutely incapable of rescuing themselves from sin, and are far worse than we ever dare admit, we might come to see how great God’s common grace is. If you and I were to receive “fair” treatment from God, that is to say if you and I were to receive the fair punishment for our treasonous, rebellious sin against the King of the universe (and that is what every sin is), we would have been killed immediately and given an eternal punishment. That is how serious sin is, and that is the “fair” treatment of sin. However, while God does decree that the consequence (or wage, from Romans 3) of sin is death, he does not give this sentence to us immediately. That means that everything that we see as good in the world – sleeping, eating, joy, laughter, the beauty of nature, the satisfaction in a game or recreation, and so on – is God’s common grace to all mankind. So, we see here already that God does love all people are does “care” for all people.

Second, we have to remember that the Gospel tells us that God went an infinite distance in rescuing us from our sin. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ claims that God came to us, instead of us needing to do all kinds of things to get approved by God. God covered the infinite gap between Heaven and earth because of his great love for us, and paid the price himself for our sin against him. He died in our place so we could become “children of God” (I John 3:1). But, here’s an important question: what exactly IS a Christian? The question at hand is about whether God cares more about Christians… so, what or who is a Christian? A Christian is someone who was once deserving of eternal punishment for rejecting God, yet God came for them, died for them, and rose for them and gives them eternal life. A Christian is someone who, when God looks at them, God sees Jesus and his perfection rather than their sin. So, if you’re a Christian, you’re not one because God thought you were so special, or because you went to church or came from a certain family – none of that either qualifies you or disqualifies you – you’re a Christian because God has loved you and you responded in faith to receive his free gift of grace.

Lastly, God calls all Christians to love others in the same manner in which God loved us in Christ. Philippians 2:1-11 describes Christ letting go of all his Heavenly rights in order to humble himself in his humanity all the way to death on a cross. We are implored by God to see Christ’s sacrifice and example and be so changed because God is living in us that we in turn love others sacrificially, genuinely, and humbly.

So, does God care for the Christian more than the non-Christian? In many ways, the answer is no. None of us deserves God’s love yet he pours out his love on all mankind every day. None of us has sought after God on our own – rather, God has loved us so deeply that he seeks after us and rescues us from our sin and rebellion against him. Christians do have a special, unique relationship with God because of their faith in Christ. There are important differences in the way God responds to his child and the way God responds to someone who is still in their sin without hope. God knows us as a perfect Heavenly Father knows his children. But these things are not meant to boost our ego or make us think we matter more, therefore treating others with contempt. Let us follow in the example of our Savior, filled with His Spirit to love people the way God has loved us.

Theology: Why does evil live on yet good people die?

2010-05-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks, and up until Noelle and I move, we will be discussing big questions people are interested in talking about from our youth group. This is the question and my response to it from May 5th. I'll be posting these on this blog rather than printing them each week for anyone interested

Why does evil live on yet good people die? This is an important question, but also one that might be slightly misguided. In order to see things more clearly, we need a correct understanding of what is “good”, what is “evil”, and what God has done about it and what he promises to do in the future.

For starters, we need to remember that “good” is not based on what we think is good but on God, who defines all that is good and is perfectly good. And we all fall short of the standard when we realize that’s where the bar is at! No one is good like God… in fact, no one is truly “good”. We can do good things, say nice things, and so on – but we are not good. Without God’s grace crashing into our lives and changing us, we are broken, rejecting God’s will and intention for our lives.

Second, what is “evil”? While there are many good definitions, one good definition of evil is this: evil is anything that goes against God’s nature and his will. That means, anything that opposes God’s perfect creation, his character (love, grace, kindness, fairness, justice, etc.), or his will for humanity is evil. When we see it this way, we see that all of us are in fact “evil” – once again, we can do good things but we cannot be called “good” at the core. But we can be called “evil” because we all live contrary to God’s design and character.

Third, what has God done about evil? Has he done anything? Hear we need to see that God has responded to evil. God became a man (Jesus Christ) and experienced evil – he was betrayed, beaten, and killed on a cross. God doesn’t avoid evil and suffering, he enters into it! He experienced far greater evil than any other human ever could – not because no one suffers like that, but because Jesus didn’t just die… he took all the punishment we deserve as people who oppose God and sin against him. He took my place, your place, the place of the world and offers forgiveness because the debt has been paid for. All who come to him in faith, knowing they should have died instead of him but trust him as Savior, experience a newness of life given to them by God – the Bible calls this being born again, being a new creation, and other things all describing what happens when we become Christians.

Lastly, what has God promised to do in the future about evil and suffering? This gets at the heart of tonight’s question. Why doesn’t God just end it now if he could? Is he not all powerful, or (and this would be worse) is he not all good? No, he is all powerful and perfectly good. Read 2 Peter 3:8-13. We see that God is not slow or weak; he is patient and is in control of history in such a perfect way that he is bringing many people to himself rather than ending history now. He is not pacing back and forth in Heaven like he doesn’t know what to do… he is perfectly carrying along the plan to make a new heavens and new earth – one without death, evil, suffering, tears, pain, or anything that is not in perfect harmony with himself. What starts with human beings through faith in Christ – making us new creations who know, love, and worship him – will eventually be seen in a perfect world forever.

God knows the pain you’ve been through. He went through great pain to be with you. Trust him and know that He loves you, and even when we can’t see it He is working for our good and his perfect plan, showing off his greatness and the great love with which he loves us.

For further reading: Romans 1, 3, 8. Ephesians 2. I Peter 2:18-22. 2 Peter 3:8-13. Revelation 21 & 22

What I’m Watching: The Invention of Lying

2010-05-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

Last night, Noelle and I rented a movie that was funny and surprising. It is called “The Invention Of Lying” and came out sometime last year. There are many actors/actresses you would recognize – I don’t think it made it all that big time, however. I can’t officially endorse it considering it had quite a bit of sexual references, though not necessarily sexually charged activity if you will (I always feel weird describing this stuff). The premise of the movie was that at the time of the movie no one in the world had ever lied – lying simply didn’t exist. Everyone said exactly what was on their minds, no matter what. They insulted each other, they admitted their fears, they confessed sexual desires, and so on. They said some seriously funny stuff. But that wasn’t he main point of the movie, from what I gathered.

The main character in the movie, Mark Bellison, was very down on his luck. His mom was dying, he lost his job, he was about to be evicted. Then something happened that changed everything: he told the world’s first lie. And since everyone believed everyone’s word, he got anything he asked for – tons of money, a girlfriend, and he even got his job back by “discovering” a completely made up story about aliens coming to earth in the 14th century (he was a screen writer). The turning point of the movie was when his mom was about to breathe her last, Mark told her that everything she knew about the after life was wrong – you don’t go into nothingness forever, instead you go to your favorite place and get a mansion and everyone else is there with you. Word got around that Mark knew something about the afterlife that no one had ever heard, and so the world literally gathered to hear – on his lawn, on TV, on radio, any way they could. Mark took a while to make something up (because by this time he knew he was lying), but eventually wrote down 10 important things people needed to know about the afterlife. Here’s the kicker (for me at least): he wrote them down on Pizza Hut boxes because he thought they looked like tablets and he claimed to have gotten his information from “The Man in the sky”.

Sound at all familiar? The movie did an amazing job mocking much of the Bible’s storyline about the afterlife, the 10 commandments, and so on. It was seriously intriguing to Noelle and I as we watched the rest of the movie to see how many things they poked fun at. Eventually Mark was being questioned about all kinds of things but all he had to do was say “the Man in the sky is talking to me…” and he was free and clear. Since everyone naively believed Mark, and since the Man in the sky says so, they went along with whatever they were told. I’m telling you, it was an all out assault (albeit indirect) on Christianity and the Gospel. But here’s the problem: the movie only vaguely resembled the Christian message.

No where in the film was forgiveness, sin, justification, the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and so on mentioned. The only important thing was that you don’t do 3 bad things while on earth so you can get your mansion. God was a Man in the sky, a figment of Mark’s imagination – not a loving Creator who redeems mankind from their bondage and spiritual death through the bloody sacrifice of his Son. Not a Father in Heaven who created us for his glory and our joy, Someone who pursues lost sinners by grace and mercy, patiently bringing us to repentance and faith in his Son. Nowhere was the Gospel given, nowhere was there a turn for the better. The ending was interesting and I’m not going to spoil it here. But I will tell you that the entire thing was portrayed as “people make up a God in the sky to make themselves fell better”.

I really hope I didn’t ruin everything for you, because if you are an adult who decides what they watch and doesn’t have movie-watching guidelines, I do suggest seeing. If nothing else it is a portrayal of how many people see Christianity and the God we claim to be the true God. It lays an axe at the root of much of what we hold dear, and yet it also cuts short the beautiful Gospel of Christ that we love. If you’ve seen it already or if you see it soon, let me know what you think.

Theology: Without Blood there is No Forgiveness

2010-04-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

I've been going through Hebrews lately and came upon a verse that was already highlighted in my Bible but that really hit me this morning. I love how God uses the same verses at different periods in our lives to reveal truth to us, speak to our hearts about our need for him, and convict us of sin. He is perfectly wise and his timing is always impeccable... even if I think it should be different, he has never been mistaken (I, on the other hand, am mistaken often). Here's the verse:

"Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin" Hebrews 9:22

The writer of Hebrews (we cannot be certain who it is humanly speaking, but ultimately it's the Holy Spirit) has been talking about how Jesus is the True High Priest, the Greater Moses, the One who made himself the sacrifice and made the blood of bulls, goats, and other animals unnecessary. But instead of going through those things, the focus for me is "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin." Wow! There are many "theologians" and "scholars" (I use the term loosely here) who want to say that God could not have ordained Christ's suffering on a cross because that would be "Divine Child Abuse". Others paint God in a negative light as being a blood-thirsty God who desired animal sacrifice just like other false gods that were worshiped in the days of Israel long, long ago. But for reasons we're not going to get into here, those people and their claims are wrong and simply untrue.

The reason forgiveness cannot happen without the shedding of blood, as far as I see it, is two fold: first, it shows how seriously God takes sin, and second because God designed blood to be the very life source of every living person. I'm no anthropologist or biologist, but I do know that once blood stops flowing, a person stops living (good thing I went to school for that one!). God, in his perfect knowledge, wisdom, and passion for his glory, set up the sacrificial system for Israel in order to make them long for a sacrifice that would once and for all pay for sin. The untold number of animal sacrifices were not the point in and of themselves; they were signposts that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. God reminded Israel many times that "to obey is better than sacrifice" (I Samuel 15:22, for example), so we know God never saw animal sacrifice as something he enjoyed. It showed the serious nature of the cost of sin. Sin destroys life, disrupts and breaks our relationship with God and with others. Sin, both unseen in the heart and seen in actions and words, is an assault on the glory of God and the purpose of God's creation. Without someone paying for it, we are eternally in God's debt. Some may want to question why God would take this so seriously if he had perfect knowledge of all things that would happen in human history, but in the end I rest in knowing God is SO good that he requires payment with blood.

Here's the kicker: while God does require blood for the payment of sin, he also provided the blood for sin. The writer of Hebrews goes on just a few verses later to say "But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26). Christ came down into human history, sent by the Father on a mission to die for his people, shedding his blood to bring many into glory. He died so that we might have life. He absorbed the debt, he paid our debt (not just canceling it, he paid for it in full), and he went even further than that. For if Christ had just paid our debt bringing our "balance" if you will to "$0 owed", that would only be half of what we need. He has also given us his righteousness! He not only brings forgiveness but wholeness, newness of life, righteousness that only he has to give. We aren't brought back into God's house as servants, but as sons and daughters.

Sin must be paid for by blood. God takes sin so seriously that only the life, and ultimately the death, of the Son of God could make anyone right with him. We long for justice in this world, and rightly so. God is a just God - all sin will be paid for, either through the blood of his son or by the blood of transgressors for all eternity. Come to the cross and thank God for his provision of blood to pay for your sin and bring you to himself.

26 years and counting

2010-04-26T21:20:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (April 27) is my birthday. I am going to be 26. The funny thing about this age is that it is very young to some people and VERY old to some other people (mostly my students). There will come a time when I will be old to everyone, but not yet today. Whenever I stop to think about it, life really does move fast on you. Sure there are some seasons when it all seems to slow down, but for the most part for me it just keeps getting faster. I can remember when Noelle and I first decided we'd be moving to Portland, how it felt so very far away. Now it is almost 3 months to the very day of when we'll be moving, and I know it will move quickly. Life really does move fast on you, especially if you don't take some time to think about it.

One other thing I've realized about life: God does not owe anyone another day on this planet. Each day is a "gift" in the sense that God gives it to us, but just because it's a gift doesn't mean we can do whatever we want with it and pretend God didn't give it to us. Every single day could legitimately be your last day. Could be my last day. Whose to say I'll make it til 9:37 a.m. on April 27th to celebrate the actual moment (I believe that's the time at least) of my birth? Just stop to take a few breaths and realize you're alive right now. There will come a day when you won't be alive... take that in as well. It could be within a week, it may not be for 70 more years, but there will be a day when you're not alive on this planet any longer. Sorry if I'm rambling about this but sometimes it just needs to hit you, all of this stuff about life and death and not being owed another day.

Finally, I love being alive. I'm very happy to be alive. I even love most things about my life. And by God's grace, I'm learning to love the things I don't really love. I'm learning to see how sovereign God is over human history, over human disease, over the Fall (not the season but the sinful state of humanity), and how in it all he is good, he is redeeming a broken world to it's original order, he is making all things new. So when I have a smile on my face through difficult times, it won't be fake... I'll be walking through difficulty with a faithful Lord and Savior. I'm only 26... I'm an ancient 26 to some people... and I do hope that God intends to give me another 70 years. But no matter the length of days I have remaining, this I know: I belong to him and forever will. Amen.

Lies we believe: All hard things are bad things

2010-04-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

If there's one thing I've learned in my 25 (almost 26!) years on earth, it's this: life is hard. People are always going through difficult things - health problems, issues in relationships, conflict at work, financial difficulties, the list goes on and on... most people could easily list a dozen things in their lives or the lives of those they love that are hard right now. But here's the lie many people believe: every hard thing is a bad thing.

Where does this lie come from? Where does this get implanted in children, teenagers, and adults alike? How come we spend so much time setting our lives up to avoid hard things, while reality would show with unbelievable clarity that we cannot escape difficulty? I'm sure the sources of this lie are plentiful, but two that come to my mind are marketing/advertising, and the illusion of "The American Dream".

Marketing (and advertising, but I'll just use the word marketing) bases its success on convincing us that the good life is the comfortable life. It's the life without conflict or difficulty, and only their product - be it a car, a beverage, or a nose trimmer - will bring you closer to the ideal of the comfortable life. But cars break down, beverages run out, and nose trimmers... well, they don't really satisfy either but let's not get mad at the nose trimmer for that. Nose trimmers do a great deal of good for people with abnormally long nose hairs. Back to my point... I've read numerous articles that say we are bombarded with around 3000 images every day that try to sell us something and try to convince us that what we need is more comfort and less difficulty. This inundates us from a young age to believe that the goal is comfort and the enemy is hard things.

The illusion of "The American Dream" also wages war on the reality that life is hard. I think that this generation is understanding it a little better than the past couple generations, but nonetheless, the dream of home ownership, a nice backyard, some money in the IRA, and the status symbols of the best technology and fanciest cars (at least fancier than enough people you know to make you feel good about yourself) are paramount to millions of people. But so few people attain it and, from what I can tell, most people who get to the place others only dream about getting to will say it's all empty and vain.

There are many other things that convince us that all hard things are bad things. But this is a lie my friends, a flat out lie. God has allowed difficulty, suffering, hardships (call it what you may) in our lives to bring us closer to him, to pry from our greedy little hands the very things that enslave us, and to show us that he is the ONLY all-satisfying experience in the world. To be clear, I'm not saying we should embrace hardship in such a way that we look for it or create it for ourselves, but I am saying that we should be ready to, at any moment, have our worlds rocked and be brought to our knees. You and I are one phone call, one stupid driver on the road, or one parasite away from everything being changed. And you know what? That's not a bad thing. God is enough in those moments when people desert you or die, when way more money is going out than coming in, when health is hard to regain.

What hard thing are you going through right now? How do you view that hardship? Do you see God's goodness in it or is your only prayer that God would alleviate your suffering? Have you reflected on your Savior's suffering on the cross in your place, for your sins lately? Have you, with Paul and many others, been so radically changed by the Gospel that your prayers are more grateful in times of hardship rather than less? If not, ask God to shift your thinking, to grow your understanding of what he may be doing in the difficult time, and realize that while we can't escape the lure of marketing/advertising/the American Dream illusion, we can transcend it and cling to God.

Vacations

2010-04-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

I love vacations. From the trip to Washington DC to the summer camping trips, my family did a pretty good job taking vacations when I was a kid. They weren't over the top, and my parents were sure to go on the most expensive vacations just the two of them (which is totally going to be my personal philosophy as a parent), but the little 3 day trips and the 7 day trips alike instilled in me a love for vacations. I'm about to board a plane all night and fly from Sacramento to New York, then finally to Boston late Friday morning and see some of our closest friends for a few days.

But my point here is not to flaunt the fact that I get to go on a vacation and you don't. My point is that vacations are important - really, really important. If we don't take breaks - whether they are one or six days - we will die. I don't know if you'll really live a shorter life because you don't take vacations, but I do think something in you will die if you don't take breaks. It's easy to believe that, in our go-go-go society, resting and stopping for fun and relaxation is more of a waste than a benefit. But it's not true - you need vacations, times to rest, reflect, see new things and visit loved ones. They are good for the soul and need to be planned. In my opinion, they are every bit as important as eating and drinking for your survival.

What happens when we take vacations? We get restored. We get rejuvenation. We may get inspiration. We get a renewed sense of our finiteness... as we go around to other places and see people living our lives just like we live out ours, we realize that while on one hand we live in a small world (you can call someone in China right now if you'd like, which is pretty wild), on the other hand it's a great big world and we have a great big God. He has created all people in his image, not just those in Placer county. And I'm thankful for that realization. I don't need to travel across the country in order to realize it's a big world and God is a big God, but doing so definitely is a powerful reminder.

Vacations are good for you.... plan one, save up for it, and go on it. Take the time off. Take the kids out of school for a couple days (not that I condone lying as to why your kids aren't at school). Go off with your spouse and enjoy life, the life God has granted to you. The life that is not guaranteed or deserved. Do it. Seriously.

The future of my blogging: My 3 topics

2010-04-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

I asked for some input a few days ago about the structure of my blog. I received some valuable feedback, and some encouraging things as well - for those of you who read it and who commented, thanks! My brother gave me perhaps the best idea: "Thoughts from Scott's younger brother"... while I'm sure such a riveting title would be infinitely useful to the masses, after much prayer I've decided against it (sorry Scott). However, I believe I've settled on three consistent themes or topics I will write about. My plan is to put these phrases/words in front of any entry that falls under this theme, while still putting some more random thoughts down from time to time as well. The three topics are:

Theology: This word captures many more things than most people think. I want to be a student of theology for the rest of my life. Theology has been given many definitions (some better than others), but my basic understanding of theology is that it is a description of how we understand God, his character, and his relationship to the world. With that in mind, this word is broad enough to include very personal entries as I reflect on God but also be instructive about important themes in the Bible.

Lies We Believe: We all believe things that aren't true. A lie is something that contradicts reality. If I say I drive a Honda but in reality I drive a Toyota, I am lying... contradicting reality. That's an easy and impersonal example, but the more difficult thing is that we all believe lies about ourselves, God, other people, money, sex, possessions, churches, and so on. Some of these lies are easily corrected while others are so hard to undo in our souls that it takes years to let the truth change us. I want to explore all kinds of lies we believe and hopefully offer the truth from God's Word.

What I'm Reading: I strive to be a lifelong reader and learner about all kinds of things. Whether it's reflecting on some personal time in God's Word, something I'm learning in class from a professor or an article, a book I'm reading for personal enrichment, or just an article about something, I want to write on those things.

So there you go... I hope this is going to stay consistent but I will certainly take some creative liberty if one of these isn't working out. It will be nice for me to "assign" topics to myself and seek to continue my passion for writing.

Some quotes and some thoughts

2010-04-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Donald Miller's book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is an excellent book. A while back I started doing a review of each of the five sections the book is split into, but apparently I got bored with it because I only did three of the five parts... not much of a book review if you ask me. So I picked up the book and found Part Four, and scrolled through some of the sentences I highlighted (I used to like bracketing and underlining but I can't do straight lines so I found highlighting to be less nauseating). And, just like when I first read through it, there are some great points he makes. This is a book by a Christian man about living your life in terms of a story - understanding yourself in a sub-story as he calls it, inside the larger story of God's story of redemption. I loved the whole book but want to focus in on a few points Miller makes in Part Four.

"Joy is what you feel when conflict is over. But it's conflict that changes a person." p. 180

This is everyone's experience, isn't it? Ask someone what has changed their life the most and they will almost inevitably tell you a story (because connecting life events and finding meaning in them is telling a story) about something very difficult in their life. The divorce of their parents, the abandonment of friends, the death of someone they loved, the loss of a physical ability, losing a job, and so on. The pain is not nice and it's usually not enjoyable, but it is what changes people. Going through hard times, particularly as a Christian, is what instills the Gospel even deeper into our hearts. And we can look back and see how we became more patient, how we trusted God in deeper ways, how we depended on him every day, and how he formed our character through the crucible of conflict and pain.

"Part of me wonders if our stories aren't being stolen by the easy life." p. 186

The easy life... the "American Dream"... I think these two ideas are synonymous. If you were to get the honest truth out of most of us, especially younger people who haven't had life beat this idea out of them yet, we'd tell you our highest aim is wealth and comfort. We want to work enough to make enough to eventually not have to do anything. We want to retire young, get that second (or third) home in whatever idealized area of the world we want to move to, and we think that's the dream. But it isn't. It's boredom. It's ridiculous. It's insanity. The easy life, or the dream of the easy life, robs us of wonderful stories our lives were made to tell of sacrifice, love for God and others, risk taking, and adventure making. God's highest concern for you life is not that you achieve the easy life; it's that you glorify him by mirroring his story of redemption, reconciliation, and grace to the broken, unreconciled world around you. And the more we tolerate the easy life's empty promises

"Growing up in church we were taught that Jesus was the answer to all our problems." p. 203

Isn't he, though? No, actually, he's not. And he never promised to be. Miller makes a great point as he recounts his Christian experience after believing the lie that Jesus fulfills every longing we could ever have here on earth. He talks about how Jesus is sold like an infomercial - "If you'll just believe in Jesus and let him in your heart, he'll bring you everything you long for and keep the bad stuff away." But that's B.S. if I've ever heard it (if you're not sure what that stands for, think about it some more. If you're still not sure, ask your parents. If you are a parent, just ask me). There is a longing that each of us has for full redemption, when pain and sadness and death is completely swallowed up. The good news is that God does promise that to us - just not in this life. God does fulfill us, but he doesn't answer all our questions this side of Heaven and all of our problems aren't necessarily solved. Jesus is our hope, our Savior, our redemption and our propitiation. Let that be enough, and be satisfied in all he is for you.

This is just a small sampling of some of the quality material in this book. I probably read Miller's books faster than any other author because it flows extremely well, is entertaining, and is always poignant. I recommend ordering it from Amazon sometime soon.

The future of my blogging

2010-04-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking about the best way I can promote my writing passion and develop any God-given ability I may have to write. Several things have come to mind but the most consistent one I can think of is to give my blogging a bit of structure - I need a plan, basically. I'm a planning kind of guy, and while I do enjoy flexibility and spontaneity at times, I definitely favor structure and deadlines. So, here's my plan (and where I need some help): I am going to come up with two or three consistent themes for me to write about each week, and a specific day on which to write about these things. I want the themes to be broad in scope but succinct in what I call them.

For example, I'm thinking "theology" will be one of my themes; so, perhaps every Monday my title will be "Theology: _________" and give that title. Another example of what I've been thinking about it "Discipleship: ___________". But I know that these may be things I'm interested in, and while it's important that I be interested in them I also enjoy knowing people read my blogs from time to time (I used to care much more about people reading my blog than I am now). So, my request is this: please tell me what you'd be interested in hearing more about - what, if it were on my blog consistently, would you want to read? What could a title for it be (no more than 3 words)?

Some other names/titles I've thought about: culture; what I'm learning; reflections; story; lies we believe, and so on.

Please give me any feedback through this blog and through Facebook's comment section. Or write me a message or email with some ideas. Thanks!

What if he isn't alive? What if he is?

2010-04-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

If Jesus isn't alive...

we have no reason to celebrate like we do as Christians.

we are all fools for believing the biggest hoax in human history.

how can you explain the instant life transformation of the disciples, most of whom died gruesome deaths because they wouldn't stop saying he was alive?

there is no hope for anything after this life.

he is a dead Savior and therefore no Savior at all.

none of us claiming to have "new life" or be "born again" actually are... we just wished it upon ourselves and perhaps radically altered our lives on our own power.

our money and energy is wasted to advance a cause for someone who died almost 2000 years ago.

we should go back to living primarily for ourselves rather than some guy who had some nice things to say but couldn't back them up.

Easter really should be about a bunny who lays colored eggs for children to find.

I am wasting my life in a meaningless, empty, foolish endeavor to serve a dead person who never rose, and therefore has no power to change anyone's life and am the biggest liar I know.

If Jesus is alive...

we have every reason to celebrate like we do as Christians and should be the most consistently joyful, happy people on earth.

he is the living Savior who has been building his Kingdom and his Church for nearly 2000 years, and will one day return to fully receive his Kingdom for all eternity.

we have hope for today, tomorrow, and eternity.

the death of Jesus on behalf of sinners like you and me makes sense... he died to pay for our sins and rose to give us new life in him.

the Holy Spirit now lives in us, opening our minds to the truths of the Gospel.

there is every reason to use our money and energy to serve him.

Easter is rightly about him, not a bunny and eggs.

I am spending my life doing meaningful, beautiful, and eternal work - and not just because I work for a church but simply because I am a Christian who seeks to bring him honor in all I do and be a witness to the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Friends, spend some time reflecting on what would be different if Jesus in fact did NOT rise from death but is actually in the ground, still rotting away like every other dead person. Such a thought on Christians should cause great distress if that is in fact the case because we've been dooped by simple fisherman, a tax collector, and some other normal guys who turned radical about a man they believed to be alive. The Gospel is not a set of facts you must adhere to - it is NEWS of a risen Savior who conquered Satan, sin, and death through the cross and resurrection. The cross means nothing without the resurrection. The death in our place on the cross receives much attention and rightfully so, but if he did not rise it would have no power.

If you'd like to add to this list please do so by either commenting on the blog or commenting on the link provided on Facebook. What else would be different if he didn't rise, and what should it mean to us that he did rise?

Mexico - Final Recap

2010-04-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

It is finished! Our work in Mexico is done and we handed the keys to a brand new home to a mother and her 3 children at 4:30pm yesterday. It was a full day of work as we had a lot to do in order to get the house ready for them. We built two sets of bunk beds, finished the touch up paint all over the house, started and finished the paint job inside the house, installed some "beauty" features (basic trim around the windows... but I wanted to make it sound a little fancier!), installed the door (more on that in a moment), and cleaned up all of our mess the best we could by sweeping, cleaning the windows and screens, and scraping mud/paint off of the floor that had accumulated.

While we did get it all done, it was an adventure from the very start. Our van made it to our site just fine, but we quickly found out that Ricardo, our beloved lead carpenter, had gotten stuck in the mud on a road about 1/4 mile away. He tried to take the same route he'd been driving on all week but it was too steep and muddy, and he slid back a few feet into a mound of mud and rock - we walked down to the van and attempted several methods to push, pull, or lift it out but it was to no avail. The kids had great attitudes and sought to solve problems in order to get to work. Eventually we flagged down one truck to transfer some of the materials out of the van and into the bed of the truck, and got started on what we could. The person who helped us just happened to be a man who the EOC had built a home for a while back... cool to see how it all circles back around to be a blessing and then receive a blessing in return! Then a larger 4x4 truck came with chains and yanked the van right out of its predicament and we were ready to rock and roll. The only issue there was that it was almost 11:00 a.m. and we had quite a bit to do.

The key ceremony is the pinnacle experience of the entire week. Each person gets a moment to share something of their experience, thanking God for the privilege of building the house and blessing the family. Each of your students spoke from the heart, there were tears shed by many, and then Remedios was able to unlock her door and step into her new home. The concept of having a sturdy, reliable door is something most people don't think about in the U.S. - we think about fancy doors, unique doors, double doors, and so on - but for people in Remedios' situation, simply having A DOOR is a radical change. Now she has a safe place, a place she can call her own (though ultimately she knows it is the Lord's), a place to lock and unlock as she sees fit. These are the little blessings that really aren't so little in the grand scheme of things.

Last night we celebrated "Maundy Thursday" (not sure if I spelled the right), the night when Christ washed his disciples' feet and instituted the Lord's Supper. We had foot washing stations spread out in the room and each person had their feet washed then washed the feet of another person. It was uncomfortable for many, it was awkward in some ways, but it was all beautiful and a deep experience of Christ's humility in washing us of our sins. After that I was able to share some thoughts from the week and then we participated in communion together. It was a fitting way to end the week and will stick in my memory for many years.

It is Finished! That phrase is much more than a celebration of a house being completed in 4 days by students and adults who largely are not construction-oriented and yet finished the job. It was the cry of our Lord on the cross as he breathed out his last, accomplishing all that the Father had for him to do. Today is Good Friday - the annual celebration of the core of the Gospel - Christ's death and subsequent resurrection on Easter. And while the death and resurrection of Christ needs to be on our minds every day, being brought deeper into the core of who we are to understand the depth of God's love for sinners, this weekend is a special one to remember it is a historical event and not a mere tale. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday celebrating his finished work and the new life he brings.

Mexico Day Four

2010-04-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

God is good! We got completely caught up yesterday thanks to the help of a beloved former student of Dale's named Loren Spencer. He is in his mid 20's and has been coming to Mexico since high school, even though he lives in Wisconsin and has to fly out each year to make it. He is an amazing handyman and is a fan favorite around here - everyone affectionately refers to him as "Sexy Loren" which, of course, is embarrassing in his eyes but he knows it's all in good fun. So, we did all of the shingling on the roof and finished little details around the outside of the house, as well as doing all of the drywall and texturing the walls. The texturing part was a real blessing to our group because if we didn't have that machine (and only 3 houses out of 15 this week being built get it) we would have added a couple hours of sanding the mud down flat so the paint job looked nice.

Everyone was in better spirits yesterday as well, as we could really feel the house coming together. Rick and his son Jake came down yesterday as well, which was a real treat. I think Rick put somewhere between 1 and 3 nails into the house... so he can say he had a significant part in building the house of course! But it was great being encouraged by them, and Rick spoke last night during our chapel time.

Last night is one of the greatest parts of our whole trip each year. Every team comes up with a skit and it's a competition to see who has the best skit - judged by Rick, David (pastor at Valley Springs), and two local staff people at EOC. There were several hilarious skits and competition was fierce. PBC's skit had a "LOST" theme, and we really did great! We just barely got edged out by the Food Distribution crew who had a Food Network theme. They had all the most famous cooks of the past few decades on the "show" and it was quite funny. Rick said he had us in 1st place but, alas, that didn't hold up and we took 2nd out of the 8 crews. You'll have to ask the students more about the skit when they get home.

Last night and this morning it rained for several hours on us, so please be praying for today. It is extremely muddy which makes it much more difficult to finish the house today, which is the goal. The house we are on is on a hilly slope, so the van with all the materials needed for bunk bed as well as the tools we need to use will not be able to make it up the hill. So we'll be walking up and down in order to prepare, which will slow things down a great day. The rain has subsided for now so we're praying it stays just wet on the ground without adding anything else. It is a blessing that it rained during the night and not on us as we were working. Pray for our attitudes to be patient, helpful, and encouraging. And pray that we really take to heart the fact that this is the sort of thing people deal with every time it rains down here. They walk everywhere with heavy, muddy feet, and I'm sure there are many more struggles that we don't even know about when it rains. Pray that we make it through this conflict and grow stronger from it. Thank you for your encouraging comments and prayers. We love you all and I'm excited to report the good news of finished house later today!

Mexico Day Three

2010-03-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well, day two didn't start out quite as stellar as day one, but even with some minor technical difficulties we made great progress. The issue that has arisen is that we don't have anyone who is professional at any one thing, but rather many people who are familiar enough with everything after given some instruction. Our Mexican carpenter, Ricardo, is a great guy and is helping us in every way he can. But, because we have so many questions, it is difficult for him to keep up and not let other things fall a bit behind. That being said, he is very graceful to us and helped us all along the way.

The main accomplishments of the day were:

Painting the many pieces of wood that went around the trim of the house - the painting crew was busy all day with either touch ups or new jobs and colors to make the house look pretty.

Roofing - we finished framing the roof (this was part of the technical difficulties at times) and also laid down the sheets - this required quite a bit of cutting from our cutting duo of Ashley and Paul. They were pros today in skilfully measuring and cutting all day. We've also got the tar down which will be extra protection against the rain. Tomorrow we'll finish the roof by putting the shingles on.

Electricity - the electrical wiring was also quite difficult without anyone proficient at it other than Ricardo. We drilled holes in order to get the wiring in, set up the outlet boxes throughout the house, and put the wiring in so it's ready for installation tomorrow. Hard to imagine that people are not used to having reliable electricity in their house!

Drywall - drywall is one thing Chris McCormick is a pro at - he's made sure to be a key player in setting up the drywall each year so this year he really took the lead in getting the team ready. The ceiling is almost entirely done, and that is the most difficult part. Tomorrow by lunch all the drywall will be up and hopefully we'll be doing the mud as well.

We are really connecting well with our family. The little 3 year old, Angel, is an absolute treat to be around. He is constantly playing good guy/bad guy with us, shooting at us with his left-over sheeting gun Paul made for him. Along with him, Remedios is still helping in everything she can - from painting to carrying anything we need help with. This will truly be a house she helped build. The 14 year old girl, Gloria, has to work all day because of the financial situation of the family. She came home just before we left and just lit up at the progress being made for her new home. Just imagine the pressure a 14 year old must feel providing for the family like this! It's tough enough to have to be in high school but to carry the weight of providing for a family.... hard for me to think about.

Thank you for praying for us and taking the interest in the updates. I look forward to reflecting on my day and thinking about how God is working in us as we are working on this house. Tomorrow is referred to as "hump day" around here - getting over the hump and being ready for the end of the week. It can be the most difficult day to work and to keep a positive attitude towards one another. So we need your prayers still! Until next time...

Mexico Day Two

2010-03-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Mondays are always difficult days - the dreaminess of building a home in four days gets met by the reality of the hard work required to actually accomplish that dream. We arrived to our site and there was a rectangular concrete slab in the ground... and we (yes, your kids and leaders) are building a home on that concrete slab in four days! Our energy was good most of the day and we got great work done. The first order of business was forming teams (paint crew, framing crew, cutting crew), and then getting the wood unloaded from the van so we could start building the walls of the home. Everyone had their hands on deck today, it was really neat to see. Students who didn't feel comfortable hammering at the beginning of the day were doing it like pros by lunch time. We successfully got all of the framing up for the 4 sides of the house, plus 3 more pieces framed which form the division between the two bedrooms and living room in the house. By 4:00pm all of the siding was also hammered onto the frame and the roof was being started. It seems like we are right on cue so far.

Some notes on students...

Anthony seemed a bit hesitant to really hammer in those nails, but after a few he was going to town on them like a champ.

Boston took the lead and did a great job on one of our teams that was putting up the siding. He was on the ladder guiding the pieces in like they were a puzzle and he was the master puzzle solver :-)

BJ was a cutting maniac with Paul Stordahl! The two of them, along with Ashely Camuso for part of the day, cut at least 100 pieces of wood with the precision of seasoned veterans.

Josh is more than capable on the siding as well, maneuvering his way around the top of the siding like a man on a mission.

Caleb wields that hammer like it's an extension of his arm! He was attempting to perfect that elusive "one hit" wonder... getting a nail all the way into the wood on just one hit. I can't say he ever fully accomplished it, but it was fun seeing him try!

Tara had her hand in a bit of everything today. She paints well and hammers at that wood with... well... good effort :-) She is always an encouraging companion to have on a work crew.

Charlene improved a great deal with her hammering abilities. She is a very good communicator out there - finding solutions to problems and helping in any way she can.

As for us leaders... we are hard at work in every aspect of the house - sometimes helping struggling students along with something, but just as often learning from their expertise too! We are going to be tired at the end of this trip, to be sure, but it will be well worth it.

The view from our home is SPECTACULAR. It's perched on a hill and there is a panoramic view of the ocean and mountains around it. It's absolutely gorgeous. I took a few water breaks and just was in awe at the beauty of God's creation. Yet in the midst of such beauty there is great poverty and injustice as well. The middle class hardly exists in our area - there are many incredible homes near the beach but far more shacks in very unhealthy (even un-livable) conditions. So we know this work is important, and we are joining the year round effort of the missions organization to build one home at a time and provide for those who cannot afford quality living standards. The Ensenada Outreach Center, where we are staying, is part of an organization called YUGO - Youth Unlimited Gospel Outreach. This outreach center has built over 1200 homes in the last 14 years, bringing the hope of Jesus while meeting physical needs in the name of Jesus.

I'm grateful to be here. As the week progresses it will grow more difficult to sacrificially love one another because everyone's emotions are drained - pray for us! But with each day comes the reality that this house is (in my opinion) at least about us as it is the family we serve. We come together, we bond, we laugh, we suffer together, we solve problems, hold ladders, help one another up, and enjoy each other's company. God is moving here among us, at the work sites, in our family groups, through the devotionals we go through on our own. Our theme is "God For Us" out of Romans 8:31 - "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us!" We are spending a significant amount of time unpacking the Gospel together and applying it to our hearts while we serve. This is not some way of earning God's love - this is an overflow of being so full of his love which we've received that we express it by pouring our own lives out just as Christ did for us.

Thank you for praying, and keep it up!

Mexico Day One

2010-03-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

We arrived! We´ve been in Mexico for over 24 hours, and this period is the vacation portion of the trip. We are able to go to taco stands (maybe two or three trips!), hit up the beach which is about a 10 minute walk down the road, and just relax. We begin working hard tomorrow morning and everyone is excited to get going. Dale says teenagers are actually telling him they'd rather fast forward through today in order to start working - how's that for a novel idea! But this is an important relationship building day together and it's great to prepare for the week ahead.

Last night we met the families we will be building homes for and had dinner with them here at the camp. The family PBC is building for is a widow with 3 kids (20 yrs, 14 yrs, 3 yrs) and they are very excited to be receiving it and are thankful to God we are here. It will be a privilege to build it for them - please be praying for them (I believe her name is Remedios) and for us as we do want to get to know them as best we can this week.

Tonight we'll be having a bonfire worship time together, spend time in our family groups (groups of 5-7 people you meet with every day to pray, chat, and encourage each other), and having some free time. Hopefully there will be another good night's sleep before we get going on all the hard work.

God always does incredible things in the life of each person through this trip. Be praying for hearts to be receptive to God's Word as it is studied every day in the devotionals and taught each night during chapel. Pray that relationships continue to grow amongst the team and that people who may not feel confident they really want to be here right now will have their minds changed and love this place. For you parents, thank you for your trust in us as adults to care for your kids and serve with them - there are about 70 students here and 40 adults! Quite the ratio for adult-student interaction.

I'll try to update a couple more times - maybe even every day, but no promises :-)

One more go around

2010-03-26T15:16:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe this will be the last Mexico trip for me at PBC. This will be my 6th time making this trip - the first was as a senior in high school, second was as a college intern, and now this is the 4th as the youth pastor of PBC. Each trip is memorable and different, even if they locations are so similar. Each year God shows up in powerful ways in my life, drawing me closer to him, reminding me of his grace and abundant provision in my life. Each year I am humbled to see that I do not deserve one thing, but all that I have has come from the Lord. Each year I am motivated all the more to humbly serve in my day-to-day life at home - to serve my wife, to serve the church, to be ready and willing to help anyone in need. Each year God changes lives, and I believe this year will be no different.

How can you pray for us in Mexico?

1. Pray that God would work in the hearts of unbelievers on the trip with us. Yes, there are people who don't know Jesus that join us on this trip. Some people realize they've been playing the game of religion for many years though they've grown up in church, and others come to faith in Christ even though they originally just wanted to go to have some fun and build a house. Pray for conversion

2. Pray for safety - we leave at midnight and drive for about 14 hours, and will do it again on the way back. We build a home in 4 work days - we have to move fast but want to work safely. We have people up on the rafters putting the roof together, then hanging out on the roof all day while we lay the shingles down. We need God's protection for many reasons.

3. Pray for close relationships on our team. We need people working together, but the life-changing part is often the relationships that are formed and deepened on a trip like this. Pray that God warms everyone's heart to one another so there is a deep love amongst brothers and sisters in Christ.

4. Pray for the adult leaders. There are a lot of adult leaders this year, which is great. Sometimes that can create some clashing of interests or some stubborn tendencies in people, and pray that this is dissolved. Pray for our health and pray for our servant-heart toward the students we are with. Pray that Dale, myself, and others who will be preaching/teaching do so in loving ways that are Spirit filled and Christ exalting to the glory of the Father.

There are more things to pray about, but I am out of time - thank you for praying. I hope to be updating people via this blog about the trip as it progresses.

Who Framed Jesus?

2010-03-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

Recently there was a show on the Discover Channel called "Who Framed Jesus?". My curiosity was peaked about it by the title but I didn't have time to watch it so I recorded it and got around to finishing it yesterday. I must say it is a very interesting and provocative take on the final hours of Jesus' life. I've seen a fair share of these sorts of shows on National Geographic and Discovery, but this one covered more things in depth than most I have heard. I will cover just some of the material they covered, since I didn't take notes and will be going a little bit off of memory. The main reason I'm writing this response is because I view it as a God-ordained lesson for me - I was literally watching a class lecture and reading from a very good article for class yesterday on the very stuff I watched during my lunch break (I work from home and like to consider it a "lunch break" to keep myself on task for the day). So with that in mind, I'll give it my best shot.

First, let me set the overall mood of the show. It was seeking to answer the question after which the show was named, and did so by naming several alleged perpetrators to the death of Jesus - the Pharisees, Judas, Caiaphas the High Priest, Pontius Pilate, and Jesus himself - and it recounted the biblical account and then cast doubt on that with scholars (I use the term loosely) from various universities (Princeton, Stanford, Jewish universities, etc.) giving their reasoning as to why certain accounts fabricated things to make the story sound true. Throughout the show it reenacts scenes that gospel writers recount and then cuts away to give a brief interjection by these scholars, giving their take on what really happened. I will list several points the show made and make a few comments.

The show focused quite a bit of attention on whether or not the Pharisees framed Jesus... whether or not they were influential enough or actually had a motive to want Jesus dead. The curious thing that was missing was, basically, the Bible. While it did mention accounts towards the end of the life of Christ where Jesus had run-ins with the Pharisees, it did not mention the numerous places where it clearly states that the Pharisees wanted Jesus killed and were scheming to get him in trouble. Instead, the Pharisees were given a bit of a pass, giving the implication that the Pharisees couldn't have pulled it off on their own. This is a true enough statement, but I'll get to that in my conclusion.

The next person they focus on is Caiaphas, the High Priest. Caiaphas was certainly a powerful man in Israel, but was he respected or influential in the Roman courts where Jesus would need to be tried? Many times the show pits Matthew against Luke, or Mark against Matthew, and so on, as if there is no real continuity. There were a few times it mentioned "all of the accounts do talk about ______" but the vast majority of the time the goals seemed to be to discredit the validity of all of the writers because they each give a slightly different angle. In the end, the consensus was the that gospel writers needed a "fall guy" and Caiaphas seemed like the write guy - he was powerful, he was a Jewish leader, and Christians supposedly needed the Jews to seem guilty and the Romans to have a pass since Christians were trying to get power in Rome. It's interesting, but it's false - Caiaphas did want Jesus dead, he knew Jesus was making claims to be the Son of God, the Messiah (Christ and Messiah mean essentially the same thing), and knew that the just penalty for such blasphemy (as he believed it to be) was death. He wasn't a fall guy but was rather a key player in the false trial.

Pontius Pilate was examined as well, and this was very intriguing to me. What these scholars did was mention that there was a historical view of Pilate as a ruthless ruler but then in the accounts of Jesus' trial Pilate comes across as weak, indecisive, and bending to the will of the people. This is where my class work came in handy for me. Pilate was indeed a ruthless ruler who hated the Jews - in Luke 13 we read of a time when the Jews were upset because he stole from the Temple treasury. Pilate knew the situation would be hostile so he had his soldiers dress up like Jewish citizens and then, when the signal was given, they took their covering off and murdered many Jewish citizens. This was indeed a ruthless man as history itself testifies to in various writings. But, something was missing in the show that pieces together why this man would bend to the will of the Jews. Pilate was one of many rulers, like mayors but with more power, who had to be accountable to people higher than himself. He had a friend named Sardejus who was the one who reported to Pilate's authorities. Sardejus would basically lie for Pilate and say things were going great and peaceful in Pilate's territory, thus letting Pilate continue his ruthless ways. Sardejus eventually tried to overthrow a powerful Roman ruler and was killed in the process, leaving Pilate without his ally to report to the authorities. Fast forward to Jesus' trial: he knows that if he does not do something to get on the Jews' good side, he may have a riot on his hands because he had no one backing him up any more. So this ruthless man of history and this man of the biblical accounts of Jesus' trial are harmonized - he didn't want to help the Jews but made a political move to appease them. He washes his hands of Jesus' blood because he sees he's not guilty of anything, and yet instead of dismissing Jesus and the Jews he appeases the Jews' request to have Jesus crucified. But the show conveniently skips over this documented historical fact.

The final portion of the show portrays Jesus himself as the one who schemed to get himself killed. Now this is a little trick because, according to the Bible, Jesus did know his fate and did allow (even cause perhaps) the events to unfold as they did. There were prophecies about himself that Jesus made sure to fulfill - riding into Jerusalem on a colt, having Judas betray him, and so on. Jesus even told his disciples (John 10:18) "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father". Rather than appreciate the beauty of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf as the divine and perfect plan of God to redeem sinful humanity and bring eternal life, the show and its participants decides to portray Jesus as faking fulfillment of prophecy in order to gather a following. What this eliminates is Peter's claim in Acts 2:23-24 - "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it."

God the Son submitted to the eternal plan of God the Father (the whole of the Trinity, really) to become to sacrifice for our sins and bring us to God. Jesus' death reconciles us to the Father, yet death did not hold him because he was the sinless and perfect Son. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, just as John the Baptist said. This show, and others like it, are crafted in such a way as to cast doubt and encourage cynicism towards the message of Christ. What is curious is that there is never any hope given by people for our eternal future - the point is simply to attempt to dismantle the faith of so many. Did the Pharisees want Jesus dead? Absolutely. Did Caiaphas? Yes again, for he knew Jesus' claims and hated him for it. Did Pilate have his hand in it? Yes. Did Jesus himself have his hand in the whole thing, allowing it all to come to pass? Most emphatically, yes he did. The glorious truth is not that these things take away from the grandeur of Jesus' death, but they add to it. We have this BIG of a God! A God who uses religious leaders, the events of false accusations and false trials, and even a pagan ruler to achieve his purposes of paying for our sin and giving us the gift of eternal life. Praise his name!

Is academic stuff helpful?

2010-03-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

As I've been going through my seminary courses thus far, one thing remains consistent: the more I read the Bible for class assignments, the more difficult it becomes to separate that mindset from the mindset of more personal "devotional" time with the Lord. I've experienced this for many years, including the time in college as well. But I've been reading more large chunks of Scripture in my current class than ever, maybe 20-30 chapters at at time for some of the old testament prophetic books. So, for me, this all begs the question, is the academic stuff helpful?

The clear answer is "yes, it's helpful". Maybe that's obvious enough considering Noelle and I are moving to Portland this coming July so I can go to school full time for this academically oriented stuff. But sometimes it's important for me to remember just why it's so important. That will be the topic of my blog tomorrow, because I just got done with an incredible class period revolving around the final chapters of Matthew. Alongside this great lecture and reading, I finished a documentary from the Discovery Channel called "Who Framed Jesus?" and the two coincide very well. I will get a bit more academic in my approach because sometimes it's necessary and helpful. The documentary does an amazing (and not very impartial) job of skewing certain historical "facts" and "difficulties" within the four gospel narratives (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), but mangles it pretty badly. If we aren't prepared with good, logical, academic responses for these make-shift scholarly accounts, we'd be in a pretty bad place after such a video. Hopefully the short essay will be helpful, as I know studying this stuff has been very helpful to me.

Thoughts from Angels and Demons

2010-03-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

Noelle and I just watched the movie "Angels and Demons" starring Tom Hanks. It's sort of a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code" - which, for the record, I enjoyed as an entertaining movie with a fairly interesting story line and nothing else. While many people have criticized both of these movies for many reasons (plenty of them good reasons, I'm sure), I found two things particularly interesting in Angels and Demons. I don't know if they were major philosophical points the author/director was trying to get across or if I just picked up on them, but here they are:

1. The media is able to be tricked easily into believing something and then project that to the whole world.

At least twice in the movie someone was killed and the media twisted it in order to cover for the Vatican. Or, perhaps more accurately, the Vatican released an official statement about the incident and the media ran with it. The movie showed at least 4 different languages represented in the media, covering much of the world who would be eating up this lie. I am not sure if this was a major point they were trying to get across but I know I saw it as pretty important. We can indeed be fed a good deal of important information from media outlets such as TV, internet, radio, and newspapers (does anyone read those anymore?), but they can easily be twisted or lied to (or do the lying themselves) and it suddenly gets received as absolute truth. A dangerous concept in real life to be sure.

2. There was a strong sense that passionate belief in something does no make it true or right.

Towards the end of the movie a major decision was about to be made, something that would change the course of the Catholic church. The cardinals were conversing and becoming convinced of something and one of them said that if the Holy Spirit is leading them to do __________ (I won't give it away), they should do it because it is God's will. Come to find out that they were wrong and evidence showed just moments later. The point here is that passionate belief about anything can be misled. Even cloaking it around words like "Holy Spirit" and "God's will" doesn't make someone less susceptible to being fooled. We need to seek wise counsel, rely on God's leading (just because we could be led astray doesn't mean we always will be), and take a humble and patient approach to big decisions. Only God is perfect, and while we can make wise decisions it is best to do so slowly and with more prayer than we normally think is necessary.

Just some thoughts from a decent movie draped in Catholic mystery.

Confusing as S***

2010-03-20T21:25:00.001-07:00

Ok, don't get all upset that I just used a "cuss word" in my title - I can explain... plus, I only hinted at what it was. How do you know it isn't suit, or sick, or slit? Just saying you shouldn't assume anything. Anyways, I use the title because that's what the person I was talking God stuff with used when the Trinity came up - that's just how confusing it is! I readily agreed with him because, while I may have chosen some other verbiage, I find it about that confusing as well. The conversation I got into with this very bright young atheist was pretty profound. We went all across the board and I wanted to be available for any question he had, and hopefully did a decent job at explaining things too. It was the second talk we had gotten into in the past month about God, but this one was much more about the good news of Jesus and what God is all about, whereas the first conversation was a bit more philosophical about whether God could actually exist.

We talked about all kinds of good stuff: how some parents manipulate young children into making them "become Christians" when maybe they just scare them into repeating meaningless words, about the role of giving money and why that can be an act of gratitude and faith for a Christian do to so, about how in every church you have people who are fooling themselves into thinking their attendance gets them an "in" with God, about how God might call you into something really crazy like giving up a high paying job to be a missionary or inner-city school teacher but at the same time it will always be worth the risk because it is the path for the deepest joy with God for those people, about how God is the happiest being in the world and is definitely not a prude, and a slew of other things. That last sentence may have been one of the longest run on sentences I've ever typed, but it was worth it! It was a very enjoyable conversation and this guy asks very insightful questions that help me put into words what I believe and what the Bible tells us about God.

We also talked about the cross and how through the cross God forgives our sin - our all out rebellion against his name and character. I literally could sense God bringing Aslan, yes the Aslan from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, to my mind and used his death in Peter's place (it was Peter, right?) as an example of the Gospel. Because God is just, someone will pay for sin - either we will as individuals pay for our guilt before God or Christ will as we receive that gift by grace through faith. I'm not sure I worded it all right, but the point of it all is that we really conversed about God. It was casual and comfortable (at least it felt that way to me) but was also honest and covered some hard stuff. One thing I learned from the conversation was this: always make sure you are honest - when you don't get something, don't pretend you do. When you think something is a good point someone makes and want to think more about it, say so. If you don't, you will probably come off as arrogant and stupid all at the same time.

I thank God for my friend who I was able to talk with the other night and look forward to more discussions. Like I told him at the end of our 90 minute conversation, we've only scratched the surface.

I lost

2010-03-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I lost my little challenge to myself - I failed to blog last night. But here's why: I was in an amazing conversation with someone about Jesus. No, really! We talked for over an hour - he's a smart guy, a self-proclaimed atheist (for now), and we had a great discussion. He asked really good questions and I felt that I was much better than I expected in giving a reasoned answer for the faith - something I would say God himself did through me, actually.

But, this is just a prelude to that conversation because i'm exhausted (I went snowboarding today, and no I'm not complaining) and need some sleep. Actually, alot of sleep - hopefully 9 or so hours worth of sleep. But I plan to recap the conversation from Thursday night sometime tomorrow. We'll see.

Working from home

2010-03-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get real antsy when I've been in the house all day. There are some days - usually Mondays and Wednesdays but occasionally Fridays too - when I'm inside my apartment working on either school or ministry stuff for 5 hours or more at a time without going outside. I've realized several times that this may be something God is preparing me for a great deal more of in my future. What I mean is that perhaps I will be working from a home office as a church planter some day, or perhaps if I ever get to write a book I'll be couped up doing that in a home office for long periods of time, or perhaps it will be in the next several months as I start going to school full time and spending even more time writing and reading. We'll see.

Today was one of those days when it was tough to be inside and I got antsy. So I created a couple of things I "needed" to get done outside the house and left. It didn't do me any good - now I'm antsy again! I just ordered a pizza for Noelle and I from Cool River and now am excited to go pick it up in a few minutes... this is a very random post but it is my thoughts and the good news is that I'm being consistent in writing and it's becoming more normal to write something than it is to not write anything at all. Good stuff.

A short note on John 3:36

2010-03-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

John 3:36 has always confused me:

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."

Now, why does John (inspired by the Holy Spirit) say, on the one hand, believing the Son will result in eternal life while disobeying the Son keep the wrath of God on someone? I thought it was a matter of belief or disbelief... or is there more to it? To be perfectly honest, it sounds religious and scary. While it is scary because eternal destinies are being explained in just one sentence, it is not religious, actually. The word in the Greek (one word in Greek is translated "does not believe" in English) carries with it the idea of a rejection, a non-compliance with, a disobedience that is caused by a disbelief. So it is not merely breaking rules that John threatens us with here - it is the decision that we've all initially made to disobey God - to not believe in his Son, to not believe he alone is Life, he is the provider of everything we need for eternal life. We've all rejected him - those who continue to do so will continue to be under the (righteous and just) wrath of God. Those who believe in Christ - wholly trusting in his name for our eternal life and the source for us receiving God's mercy - have eternal life. We have, as our current "possession", eternal life! God's Spirit lives within us, filling us and causing a new birth that will result in an eternal dwelling with God in heaven. Praise his name.

Wages of Sin vs. Free Gift of God

2010-03-15T06:47:00.001-07:00

I used to work at Scandia Family Fun Center off of Madison Blvd. Yes, the pretty ghetto place right off of I-80. I worked in the snack bar and it was not a great job. Sure it had some perks for a 16 year old like everything being free for me and my friends, but it was hard work and not exactly "exciting". Serve a kid a slurpy, give someone their batting cage helmet and bat, try to count some snot-nosed kid's 1000's of tickets with the ticket counter that always managed to get stuck when there were tons of tickets to be counted, and so on. Not anything glorious, but it was a job and I think I got a bit above minimum wage too. Plus, there was an employee's mini golf tournament which I won on one occasion... that may have made the whole job worth it!

I say all of that because I was thinking about it this morning after reading a very well known verse - Romans 6:23. It says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Growing up in Sunday school I must have known this one since kindergarten or 1st grade... not that I really got it, but I probably got a nice gold star on the Sunday School poster next to my name for saying it by memory. Good times. Anyway, the verse is very powerful when you think about what is being implied. I believe Paul was a master communicator who was filled with the Holy Spirit to write down God's inspired Word, the Bible. Therefore, let's break these two concepts down.

For the wages of sin is death

Paul has been arguing in Romans 6 (and other places) that sin leads to death. It is the logical outcome of our rebellion against God's holiness, his commands, and his overall character. It is what we all deserve - it is what's "fair" in this life. (As a side note, I believe this means we should love the fact that, for believers in Christ, life is not "fair", meaning that we don't get what we deserve, which is eternal damnation in hell as righteous punishment for our sin.) The reason I brought up my Scandia experience is that my wages for all those hours under my boss was some money - it was my justified payment for what I did. In a similar way, the justified payment, or the justified outcome, of anyone's life lived under sin and not under God's grace which comes through faith in Christ, is death. That is, both the physical death we will all experience (unless Christ returns before that happens), and also eternal death - separation from God forever. These are the wages of sin, and these are the wages everyone either is under today who is apart from Christ, or was under before you came to Christ (or before he came to you and rescued you, which I would argue is a more accurate way to describe it).

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul now juxtaposes what belonging to sin leads to with what belonging to God leads to. The free gift is the exact opposite of the justified payment (wages) - there is nothing about a free gift that anyone can boast in and say "Ya, I got it because I worked really hard for it." Sometimes kids think they got a free gift from their parents because they manipulated their parents and dropped not-so-subtle hints about what they want for their birthday, but if the parent is a good parent then, in the end, they know that the kid got it because of a free gift of love. God is the "Free Gift Giver" here - he is the one who knows our condition better than anyone and yet still offers this free gift through Jesus Christ. We do not earn it, we receive it (Romans 3:24). You are a Christian because you received something from God... you did not pay him back and thus receive your just due.

And what is this outcome of this free gift to be received on faith? Eternal life! The contrast should be obvious by now, but the outcome of all your work under sin as your "boss" or more accurately as your owner, is death - physical death and eternal separation from God. Yet the outcome of God's undeserved gift of grace is eternal life IN Jesus Christ. Eternal life is given for everyone in Christ - everyone who has come to receive this gift and live for him. Everyone who has come out of the bondage of sin, the ownership of such a brutal taskmaster, and into this marvelous light. Everyone who has seen their rebellion and seen what their Creator did in order to have them back. Everyone who recognizes that the chasm between them and God would never be jumped over or somehow breached unless God himself became a man and took our punishment for us. The gift of eternal life is entirely free to you and I, but not to God. It cost the life of the Son, who willingly sacrificed himself on the cross for our sin, in order that we might become children of God.

Praise his name today! While we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We who were working for sin, under the bondage of sin, on our way to receiving our just payment of death have been rescued. Yes we will die in this life because of the effects of sin, and yes there are still consequences to our sin that we still struggle with. But you can go about your day and the rest of your life knowing God has rescued you, given you free grace through Jesus Christ, and that your physical death one day has been transformed so that it is no longer the end of anything but the doorway into eternal life with God our Savior.

She loves life with me

2010-03-14T21:52:00.001-07:00

So Noelle and I were working in getting to sleep (for you single guys, it's always more complicated than just climbing in bed and falling asleep), and she told me she loves life with me. I'm not entirely sure if she is thinking coherently because we are both so tired - we went to bed much later than normal last night AND lost an hour of sleep! Recipe for disaster. But, regardless, it is always nice to hear such kind words. Then, of course, I realized I hadn't blogged yet today and so we discussed whether I should bother or not and I decided I definitely needed to. I'm committed to this every day til Mexico thing and am actually hoping to be able to get on the internet and blog during Mexico a couple times as well... no big commitment there however.

Life with my wife (yes, it rhymes) is seriously wonderful. It's not always easy, not nearly perfect, but it is wonderful. We are grateful to God for bringing us together and while we are two very imperfect sinners saved by grace, we are able to love one another with a growing love for each other and the life we share. God is good, this is a good season and a pretty sweet spot in our lives. We're excited for the future but also wanting to wholly lean on his mighty hand to provide and his perfect wisdom to lead us.

3 Things More, 3 Things Less

2010-03-13T19:09:00.001-08:00

Today was a good day. It felt like a true Sabbath for Noelle and I - we woke up after 8:30 this morning, which is almost a miracle in and of itself. Of course that was only after I woke up at 5:30 and realized my body's "clock" is getting earlier and earlier. We were able to spend a casual morning getting a few things done, Noelle went to a short rehearsal at Thomas' house for tomorrow, then we went out to Folsom for a bike ride. The trail along the American River is just stunning at parts in the spring. Amazing colors all around and bikers of every shape and size. Then we went to the Coffee Republic for a drink and some time to read. After a quick grocery trip to Trader Joe's (we always spend more there if we're together), I dropped Noelle off at home and got some time to myself at a park nearby. I was surprised to find a bench in a little enclave near the creek... it's going to become my new alone-time spot.

I always get reflective on short excursions by myself, and this time was no different. I started thinking about the type of person I want to be in about a year's time. I came up with 3 things I want to be (or do) more, and 3 more I want to be (or do) less. Here they are:

I want to be more healthy at this time next year

I want to exercise more regularly and focus on eating better. It's shocking to me whenever I hear research about how the stuff we eat has so much to do with our temperament, energy, and so on. Maybe it's logical but it's easy to go through so much of our lives without paying attention to what we're eating, how much we're eating, and how it's impacting us. So I want to eat less unhealthy stuff and way more fruits and veggies.

I want to be more dependent on the Holy Spirit at this time next year

I want to learn more about the Spirit. Sometimes he seems so spooky and the idea of being "filled with the Spirit" as Paul tells us to be in Ephesians can just be weird to me. But at the same time I desire to know what that means and actually be filled with the Spirit. I want to depend on him for direction in big and little decisions, in how to react to someone I don't particularly like, or in what to say when conversing with someone about Jesus. I just want more of him.

I want to be more conversational about Jesus

I just want to talk about him more with people. "Witnessing" or "evangelism" are common words for it, but for me it's more about asking people where they're at and starting from there, rather than starting with something like "If you were to die today do you know where you'd go?" I want to be winsome, honest, and humble with people to see how I can express the Gospel in real, tangible, understandable ways. To do that I need to know my stuff, know my Lord and Savior well and know what he's done for me. I want to do that.

I want to be less narcissistic.

I think I could say this one every year. Another word for it is selfish but I like narcissistic better for some reason. I can be incredibly, ridiculously self-centered in my thinking, speech, and behavior. I want to be quicker to think of others, their needs, and my role in encouraging and serving them.

I want to be less judgmental.

Another one that could be on my list every year. I judge people by the way they dress, eat, talk, look at me, don't look at me, and on and on. I can write someone off based on the brand of shoes they wear... it's ridiculous but I know I'm not alone. I assume the worst about all kinds of people and group people together by all kinds of sinful, dreadful ways. I want to do this less and less and come from a position of acceptance and love before I do any judging in my heart.

I want to be less likely to rationalize my own sin.

I talk myself into all kinds of things and rationalize my way through it so it doesn't seem so bad to me by the time I'm done. Whether an attitude or an action, I want to confess and repent quicker than I sin, running straight to Jesus instead of away from him. It's in my sin that I need him most, and I can also rationalize how much I don't deserve grace (which is true of course). Instead I want to approach the throne of grace with confidence in my time of weakness and frustration. Rather than rationalize my sin, I want to spend time rationally thinking through my faith, my great Savior, and my response to his mercy.

These are a few things I want to do more and less by next year. By God's grace it will happen. By the Holy Spirit's presence and power I will grow in wisdom and love for Jesus. And, Lord willing, I'll still be alive next year at this time to think through a few ways I want to grow.

It's short... but it counts

2010-03-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

So Noelle and I just prayed and were ready to go to sleep, when... I realized I hadn't blogged! I know no one else cares but this is my word we are talking about here! Every day til Mexico! So here I am, being ridiculous and getting out of bed in the name of forming a habit and keeping my word... to myself. But nonetheless, I think it's a good sign I'm headed in the right direction

So there, I blogged

Jesus just a good teacher?

2010-03-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

For my seminary class today I read Matthew 11-19 and something struck me. Some people say that Jesus had a lot of great things to say and he was a good teacher, but he never claimed to be God or anything like that. For people who think that or something like it, I just have to ask "have you ever read the words of Jesus?" Jesus' words are gnarly and hard to understand - and even what is easy to understand is often times hard to swallow because of what it implies. Without going into every section of what I read, I'll just bring up a few things that I read today that made me pause (even though, I confess, I was reading quicker than normal because it was for class):

Matthew 11:25-27 - At that time Jesus declared "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone tho whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

OK, doesn't that sound harsh? Jesus thanking God the Father that the truth has been hidden from people? And Jesus declaring only HE knows the Father truly, and the only people who get to know God are the people to whom Jesus chooses to reveal God? I'm just saying, that's not "nice guy Jesus" - that's hard-core, I-am-the-truth-deal-with-it Jesus. It's the kind of thing that got him killed eventually.

Matthew 13:41-43 - "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear."

Jesus again takes the authority and position of Deity, telling people what will happen at the end of time. he is the one who will gather up people who are his enemies and destroy them forever. I know we all like the "righteous will shine like the sun" bit, but let's not let that piece of good news downplay the difficult words about so many millions of people's eternal destiny's. Plus, there's so many times when Jesus says "he who has ears, let him hear" - we all need God's Spirit to open our ears (spiritually speaking) for us to understand his word to us.

Matthew 19:14 - but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and went away."

So this one isn't tough but is actually cool... Jesus tells us repeatedly that we need faith like a child to enter his Kingdom. We have to depend completely on him, trust him and know that he is good. Even through so many of what he said is difficult to understand and swallow, when is as crystal clear as this the only question that remains is "Do you believe like a child? Do I?"

In the end Jesus was either an out and out liar or he was the Lord of heaven and earth he claimed to be. He was either a blasphemer who deserved the death he got on the cross (the death penalty was the appropriate punishment for anyone who claimed to be equal with God, which Jesus repeatedly did), or he was the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of God, the only One who could absorb the wrath of God on himself to such a degree that it was totally spent so that all who believe in him may have eternal life. But let's not kid ourselves that he was mostly a nice guy, good teacher, or any of that other bull... ok I won't swear on the blog, but you get the idea.

Wednesday nights

2010-03-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

It hits me every once in a while just how much I'm going to miss the students of PBC when we are gone to Portland. Tonight was one of those nights. There were quite a few students there tonight and the mood was really good. Unfortunately my teaching time and the small group time got condensed a bit because the game took longer than I had expected, but it's OK as long as it happens once in a while. God is most certainly able to work in the nights when I feel a little out of control... some may say he's more likely to work in more significant ways on those nights.

We covered John 3:16-21 tonight and it was a whirlwind for me. One big question I wanted to get answered is "What does it mean to believe in Jesus?" I basically said that the idea of believing "in" Jesus is an important one that we often don't think about, which is unfortunate since our eternal destiny is wrapped in to what we believe "in". Believing in Jesus is much different than just believing something is true, like a fact. For example, 2 + 2 = 4 - that's I fact that I believe in. But it doesn't shape my life and change me from the inside out. So believing in Jesus is far more than a mental agreement over facts about Jesus. It's a whole-hearted, complete dependence on God that says "I'm all in" - it's staking everything, your eternal destiny and your tomorrow as well, on Jesus.

Enough of that... Noelle just got home and it's time to catch up on some American Idol.

Some thoughts on marriage

2010-03-09T14:36:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Noelle's 26th birthday... 26! I'm almost there but it just sounds so much older than 25 to me for some reason. We had a great day together - went to lunch at Mizu (only because La Provence was closed), then bought some kitchen trinkets at "Sur La Table" (you say it sur-la-tahb... so snobby). Then we were with friends for dinner. And since I didn't really reflect all that much on marriage when our 3 year anniversary passed back in February, I wanted to reflect some on marriage... my marriage and marriage in general.

I'd like to think Noelle and I are pretty unique in our relationship, seeing as we are pretty darn similar in so many ways. While "opposites attract" is true for so many people, our similarities attract us to one another while (simultaneously at times) also drive us crazy about each other. But then again everyone wants to think their marriage is unique so who knows. But one thing I do know: I'm a better man because I'm married to Noelle. I really am. Not only does she help me remember all kinds of things - where my keys are, how much money we spent on stuff, why I need her so badly - she actually seems to enjoy my quirkiness and challenges me to grow constantly. if you're married I think you'll understand the next thing I'm about to say, and if not then you'll probably not be sure what to think. There are just some times when I have this urge to retract, to run and hide emotionally, from Noelle. Not because I don't trust that she loves me. If anything it's because I know she loves me so much that I'm tempted to retract and hide. I can be so fickle like that... swaying back and forth between wanting to fully engage and invest in our marriage and other times want to just get by with as much as I need to in order to call it a marriage not a "living arrangement". Being married to me has to be hard for so many reasons, and Noelle makes it look relatively easy and actually enjoyable. I'm sure that's all God's grace to her, because on her own power it just wouldn't work.

Marriage in general is a concept no one else besides God would have invented. Our society has this horribly wrong concept of it being like sitting in a bed of flowers together all day... at least for the first two weeks. Some people have wisened up and said they never want to get married and say that it's a form of slavery. And, honestly, I think they are right if you think about it without God in the equation. If it's a human invention it's just something to keep humanity going and it's a way of forcing people to do things - and in that regard it can become like slavery or some form of torture. Why not just live it up on your own and do what you want? But, if marriage really is the idea of the God of the universe, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, then marriage is the most important form of human relationships (and the most beneficial). And I believe that's exactly what it is. In marriage two sinners come together and commit their lives to one another (that's the idea at least) - in sickness and death, whether rich or poor, blah blah blah. And God himself is the Author of this great relationship, the One who brings people together who are far more narcissistic than either believes and then he grinds away at so much of our sinful, horrible, deplorable selves. And hopefully we become more like Christ in the process. Being married is both the most beautiful part of my life and the most difficult. It's beautiful because I know God is at work, blessing us, and drawing us closer to one another and to him in the process. It's the most difficult because I am (almost) always in the presence of someone who cares deeply about me - not just in meeting my needs but in my spiritual growth, in my responsibilities as a man, and in my accountability in my job and other things. it's a beautiful, difficult, wonderful blessing to be married to a woman who knows God, walks with him humbly, and seeks to honor him by loving me the best she can.

A quick note

2010-03-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

Today was Noelle's birthday so I haven't had much time to write. I think I'll reflect a bit on our marriage tomorrow and on marriage in general. For now let me just say...

I LOVE MY WIFE

Don't forget the Old Testament

2010-03-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

As I've been going through seminary I am constantly learning just how important the Old Testament is to the New Testament. It seems to me that the Bible should just be called "part 1" and "part 2" instead of "Old" and "New" because the way it sounds right now it's as if the "Old" is outdated and unimportant. But not to the New Testament writers, and obviously not to God. I know that the current titles of the 2 sides are because of the Old Covenant and New Covenant initiated by Jesus... but even in that Jesus is not discrediting the Old stuff - he's fulfilling it! In fulfilling it he does make the old sacrificial system obsolete and no longer necessary, but our understanding of the death of Jesus, for example, has to come out of an understanding of the Old Covenant sacrificial system where something died in my place.

All that to say, I've been going through Romans in preparation for Mexico - yes, all Mexico participants are going through ROMANS in 40 days. Kind of nuts but also really cool. Sad to say, I'm a full week behind and planning to play catch up this coming week. So while I should be reading Romans 7:13-25, I'm reading in Romans 4:1-12. But nonetheless, as I was reading and answering some of the questions in the devotional, this whole thing with the Old Testament came to mind. Paul basically translates salvation in the Old Testament for us, saying that even Abraham was saved by faith. It wasn't because he got circumcised... that came after God "counted his faith as righteousness". It wasn't because he was Jewish either... the Jewish nation started with him, therefore while he was the first Jew so to speak, he was not a Jew by heritage. All this to say, Abraham started a spiritual lineage of salvation by grace through faith that continues today. Christ died in our place for our sins, just like the old system of a lamb (or other animals) being slaughtered in place of the sinner.

You and I, through faith in Christ, join in this spiritual inheritance and spiritual family - not because our parents told us to, not because we go to church enough, and certainly not because we have first cleaned ourselves up. It's all because we have been given grace by God and received this free gift of eternal life through Jesus by faith.

Just some thoughts

Resting amidst the madness

2010-03-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

This week has been pretty insane for Noelle and I and tonight will be only crazier still with our big dinner fundraiser coming up. Yet somehow everything always seems to come together really well, which I thank God for. This is our 4th annual dinner event and God has provided graciously and abundantly for each year, and I know this year will be no exception.

What I'm realizing is the importance of resting in the middle of these crazy weeks. For example, Noelle and I agreed that Friday night had to be rest night over a week ago. There was a minor crisis about this agreement, however, when I discovered that my old high school's basketball team was playing at Arco Arena for the section championship! My junior year in high school was the only year our school had been to the section championship, and we had won. I can prove it... my name is on the banner which hangs proudly in the gym. But, an agreement is an agreement, and I declined an invitation to go with some friends. Turns out they won in overtime! But, you know what? It slid right off of me because we had a fantastic night resting. We turned off our phones, went to Bel-Air and bought lamb chops, vegetables, mashed potatoes, and wine. We cooked together, and I superbly passed my first test with grilling lamb - they were pink on the inside and packed with flavor. Then we watched some recorded shows we needed to catch up on and went to sleep.

God is teaching me that in the midst of a crazy life, as mine is more often than not, he revitalizes me through these forced rest evenings. They are so good for my soul, and great for my marriage too. So I'm happy I rested... because now I need to work my butt off tonight to raise some dough for Mexico!

Enjoying the toil

2010-03-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

Mexico is just around the corner for my youth group and our big dinner fundraiser is tomorrow night. The 3 weeks before this fundraiser always get very hectic - there's always another business to visit for a donation or someone to call and follow up with. Planning and shopping for decorations and what not can become draining. It's in this exciting season of ministry and trip-planning that I easily get drained from the joy of working.

Yet this morning I was reminded that it is a gift of God to take pleasure in all my toil. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 says "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God's gift to man." It is God's gift that I should take pleasure in all I do? Yes, it is - it is the way God designed the universe to work.

Even though all work carries along with it the curse and effects of the fall, people who know God are able to still enjoy the process of their work and the fruit of its labor. Sometimes the "fruit" is hard to measure for me because it's ministry with teenagers and I can't be certain just what fruit is coming from it. But I trust that God is bearing fruit and planting seeds in these students' lives and I take joy in watching it happen. God always provides the $1000's needed for the trip and always provides a rich spiritual experience on the trip. I can take joy in trusting God through this process and, while it is stressful, can do this event with a smile on my face.

Every day til Mexico

2010-03-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I still am only writing occasionally and there is just something in me that is frustrated about that. What I realized today is that it just simply isn't a habit - like many things in people's lives, if you don't do it often you won't make it a habit. I have a dream of writing some day... like writing a full on book... and I want that passion to continue and be honed on places like this blog - this obscure, there's-a-million-like-this blog. So that's what I'm going to do. I leave for Mexico in just over 3 weeks so I'm going to write every day until then and do my best to make it a real habit.

That being said, God has been incredibly gracious to me this week with all the prep for Black and White Mexico night. The weeks leading up to it leave me with almost nothing to do for "free time" - I visit dozens of business, send tons of emails, and then follow up on as much as I can. But God is providing some incredible things, in a material sense, that have been donated for our fundraiser. Sometimes, because I am weak, I need God to literally show me how good he is in order for me to feel confident in him. And I believe that this weekend, and on the Mexico trip, I'm going to see how great God is in providing for us again.

Lord, I need you to sustain me. I need you to sustain me physically and spiritually - of course I always need this but I am acutely aware of it right now. I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I know that much of this week I've been trying to do on my own. So I release that to you and trust you... and I love you. Thank you for your grace every day. Amen

These days are good for me

2010-02-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

These kinds of days are so critical for Noelle and I. We were able to wake up without an alarm for the first time in a few weeks - we try to do it about once a week but with as much as we've had going on it just hasn't been possible. Then we watched one of our favorite TV shows (Lost) online with my laptop while lying in bed and sipping coffee. What has followed since was just a great day together. We need those days where we don't see many people and are just able to do as we please. To head up to Grass Valley and do some wine tasting, then decide to stop in at a fish and chips place just because we had the time and wanted a snack. And now to have her passed out on the couch with the TV on quietly as I've been flipping channels.

These are days I'm thankful to God for because these are days that, honestly, keep us going with all our responsibilities. We enjoy almost all of our work and/or ministry responsibilities (the two are usually mixed for us), but it's the brief times to pull away and do very little that we feel God reviving our spirits and strengthening us for another week of ministry ahead. Sometimes it's tough in the middle of a week to "pull back" and see how good God is to me - to be married to a wonderful woman, to be so deeply connected to a wonderful church body, to have my health, to be able to be getting slightly ahead in our finances, and so on. It's not that he's good because he gives me all these things... he's good because he's God, and that's it. Yet when I stop to "count my blessings" I see that goodness expressed in both big and little things alike. I want to develop a grateful spirit toward God whether I'm in the midst of great joy or even great despair. To know God is sovereign and rules over human history is (as I've heard it put by others) a warm blanket to my soul. So while we make plans for our future, we can continually hold them all up with open hands, asking God to lead and direct as he sees fit.

Just some thoughts

Some thoughts on my heart

2010-02-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

I said something to one of my college students yesterday that has actually seemed to be more for me than it was for her. We were sort of updating the other people in our group as to where we felt we were in our relationship with God lately - how we were doing, where we were growing, where we know we need to grow, stuff like that. The inevitable thing that comes up almost every time I'm in a discussion like that is something about time management - not having enough time in the day to do all I need to do (or want to do) and still dig deeper into my relationship with God. But what I told the student wasn't anything brand new - it was just a simple fact: Every person actually has just as much time in their day as everyone else. What I meant to get across is that while we sometimes marvel at those much wiser than we are or more mature in their faith, we should not believe that they have some advantage of having "more time" than we do; they are most likely disciplined in their management of time and more willing to sacrifice some things than we are.

But here's the deal with all of that: I'm the same as my college student. I read stuff from saints of old or I know another Christian who is wiser than I am, and I tend to assume that it's just a matter of time before I get there. However, if I'm not making decisions in my day today that will help me draw closer to the Lord, why would I assume I'll be any closer in a few years? Why would I assume I'll just naturally be ready for that trial or hardship? When it comes down to it, I know that there is quite a bit in my life that holds me back from drawing closer to the Lord more regularly.

One of those things is my "addiction" (not literally... but sort of) to all things ESPN. I listen to ESPN in my car, I watch Sportscenter and many other shows on ESPN, and I check espn.com several times a day. I don't do this because I need to know who won the basketball games, or what some columnist thinks Lebron James will do after his contract expires this year... I do it because it's a habit (or addiction perhaps?). So I decided to give up all things ESPN for Lent - the period of time in the traditional church year between Ash Wednesday (last Wednesday) and Easter Sunday. And you know what? It hasn't been that difficult to give it up so far. Sure I'm still watching some of the Olympics and keep up a little bit so far on some other sites, but it's far less frequent - and I'm intentionally not turning the dial to ESPN or the channel to their stations.

Here's what I'm finding out: ESPN isn't the sole issue. Giving up one thing in order to spend more time with the Lord in the morning is good; but the issue is that my heart is inclined to just find something else to be distracted with! Other websites become more interesting, emails beckon me to be checked, and so on. I need the Holy Spirit to do a work in my heart so profound that I don't just stop one habit, but I prefer Jesus over all other things - communing with Him, loving Him, praising Him, bringing my concerns and requests to Him, and so on. This is what my heart needs and this is what I'm seeking from the Lord.

The Ritter Life

New Website

Why Serve? Why Be Humble?

Thanks-giving

Why Creation Matters

Thoughts on Forgiveness

Recommended Francis Chan videos

Stringing Pearls

Reflections on Psalm 33

My 100th post! The Lord's (or better, Disciples') Prayer

Father, hallowed by your name

Your kingdom come

Give us each day our daily bread

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us

And lead us not into temptation

Who is God?

Identity and Worship

Life's a Garden... Dig It!

Making the Best Use of The Time

An Ode to Friends

The Beauty... And Danger... of Tradition

Loving Great Days

Getting Over The Hurdle

Today's Short Devotional: Ongoing Sin and The Power of God

Are You Content?

What I'm Reading: Lectures to My Students

What I'm reading: Surprised By Joy

Paideia: Theological Method

A new blog topic series: Paideia

Thoughts on Broken Glass

Just Some Thoughts

Grace and peace to you

10 years ago today

New Places

This Is It

Airports

Endings and New Beginnings

Just gonna say it

Theology: Marriage

Theology: Does God Care More About Christians Than Non-Christians?

Theology: Why does evil live on yet good people die?

What I’m Watching: The Invention of Lying

Theology: Without Blood there is No Forgiveness

26 years and counting

Lies we believe: All hard things are bad things

Vacations

The future of my blogging: My 3 topics

Some quotes and some thoughts

The future of my blogging

What if he isn't alive? What if he is?

Mexico - Final Recap

Mexico Day Four

Mexico Day Three

Mexico Day Two

Mexico Day One

One more go around

Who Framed Jesus?

Is academic stuff helpful?

Thoughts from Angels and Demons

Confusing as S***

I lost

Working from home

A short note on John 3:36

Wages of Sin vs. Free Gift of God

She loves life with me

3 Things More, 3 Things Less

It's short... but it counts

Jesus just a good teacher?

Wednesday nights

Some thoughts on marriage

A quick note

Don't forget the Old Testament

Resting amidst the madness

Enjoying the toil

Every day til Mexico

These days are good for me

Some thoughts on my heart