love has come for you

providence and the role of sin

2009-01-15T08:54:00.006-06:00

Friday, January 9th, the company for whom I work laid off close to 800 employees.

The knowledge that this was occurring did several things for me. First, it drove home the state of our economy. I knew things were bad, but nothing had really touched my life or Amanda's life in such close proximity that forced this manner of thought realignment. While I wasn't directly impacted in anyway by the lay offs, knowing that it is occurring somewhat close to home made me stop and think about a few things.

It also made me very grateful for the providence of our great God and King. It could have very easily been me who was sent home for an undetermined amount of time with no guarantee I would be returning when things "got better." I must remember to give thanks to Him for providing for me, for it is His will and action, not my resourcefulness or hard work that keep me employed (not that I shouldn't work as hard as possible).

The third thing it forced me to think about was what would have been in my mind if it was me who was laid off. Would that make God any less good or benevolent? Of course not but would I have had the faith and trust in God to say that, despite the financial suffering unemployment would have inflicted and the uncertainty it would have produced, God is still good? Would I be able to say that I still have faith in Him? Would I have the faith to say that despite this, He is my greatest good?

I hope so. I pray that I would have been able to echo Job (who suffered much more affliction from Satan, who was merely God's tool and pawn as he always is) and say, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

For it is certain that even had He brought unemployment to my door step, God would remain most excellent, my only good and unfailingly glorious. I cognitively understand that God is the ultimate source of all and therefore all must be ordained for an end that brings Him glory, but, in my frail human heart, I sometimes struggle with the truth that God causes both calamity and restoration. I find though, that verses like Deuteronomy 32:39 ("See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and make alive; I would and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand"), Job 5:18 ("For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.") and Hosea 6:1 ("Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up") help my unbelief.

Father, may we worship You even when You permit destruction to fall on our homes, for You are unchanging in excellence. Your worth does not depend on what material gain we get, because You have saved us and now we get You. Help us to remember that we must not commit idolatry with what you have given us, we must never put gift above Giver. Help us to live our lives as if we don't have one. Help us to make You look beautiful by staying true in terrible times. When despair and pain come, permit us to say, through even the deepest possible pain, "God is enough. He will take care of us, He is good. He will satisfy and get us through this. He is my treasure, whom have I in heaven but you and there is nothing I desire besides you. You are the strength of heart and my portion forever."

Help us Father to make You look glorious as You are, not as some cheap genie who gives cars and health and even safety (which You have never guaranteed us, in fact, You've promised the opposite). May you find us worthy to suffer as Christ did, may our christian church be marked by suffering for Christ. I pray that we would echo the thousands and thousands of brothers and sisters who suffer now and those who have gone before us in saying that You are most satisfied in us when we are most satisfied in You, in the midst of loss and not just prosperity. Help us to live our lives worthy of the call you placed on us. To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
------------------

I'm reading John Pipers "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ" right now and I highly recommend this book for anyone who struggles with what I mentioned earlier. In the book he writes,

"This book is also meant to show that everything that exists-including evil-is ordained by an infinitely and all-wise God to make the glory of Christ shine more brightly. The word ordained is peculiar, I know. But I want to be clear what I mean by it. There is no attempt to obscure what I am saying about God's relation to evil. But there is an attempt to say carefully what the Bible says. By ordain I mean that God either caused something directly or permitted it for wise purposes. This permitting is a second kind of indirect causing, since God knows all the factors involved and what effects they will have and he could prevent any outcome. So his permission is a kind of secondary causing, but not a direct causing. This distinction is an effort to be faithful to the different ways the Bible speaks about God's relation to events. The Bible expresses both ideas-causing and permitting-in they way God brings things about [...] So when I say that everything that exists-including evil-is ordained by an infinitely holy and all-wise God to make the glory of Christ shine more brightly, I meant that, one or the other, God sees to it that all things serve to glorify his Son. Whether he cause or permits, he does so with purpose. For an infinitely wise and all-knowing God, both causing and permitting are purposeful. They are part of the big picture of what God plans to bring to pass."

Get the book, or read it here at desiringgod.org. It is worth the time.

why climb the mountain? because it is there

2008-12-30T18:50:00.002-06:00

The following is an article you can find here.

As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset

Matthew Paris

Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it's Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.

It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

I used to avoid this truth by applauding - as you can - the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.

But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.

First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world - a directness in their dealings with others - that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.

We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.

Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.

This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.

It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.

There's long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.

I don't follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.

Anxiety - fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things - strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won't take the initiative, won't take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.

How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds - at the very moment of passing into the new - that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it's there,” he said.

To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It's... well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary's further explanation - that nobody else had climbed it - would stand as a second reason for passivity.

Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I've just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.

Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.

And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.

Saint Nicholas - from TheResurgence

2008-12-25T18:54:00.003-06:00

Below is an article from TheResurgence I found interesting. Hope you all had a merry christmas.

"The larger-than-life myths surrounding Santa Claus actually emanate from the very real person of Saint Nicholas. It is difficult to know the exact details of his life with certainty, as the ancient records are sparse, but the various pieces can be put together as a mosaic of his life.

Who was Saint Nick?

Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and gifts.

Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of sexual slavery.

Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5-6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in AD 325.

Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a Saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some 2,000 churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas as they were celebrated within weeks of one another.

Reformation Controversy

During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kriss Kingle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.

Santa Myths

The legends about Santa Claus are most likely a compilation of other folklore. For example, there was a myth in Nicholas’ day that a demon was entering people's homes to terrorize children and that Nicholas cast it out of a home. This myth may explain why it was eventually believed that he came down people's chimneys.

Also, there was a Siberian myth (near the North Pole) that a holy man, or shaman, entered people's homes through their chimneys to leave them mushrooms as gifts. According to the legend, he would hang them in front of the fire to dry. Reindeer would reportedly eat them and become intoxicated. This may have started the myth that the reindeer could fly, as it was believed that the shaman could also fly. This myth may have merged with the Santa Claus myth and if so, explains him traveling from the North Pole to come down the chimney and leave presents on the mantle over the fireplace before flying away with reindeer.

These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early 20th century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew.

At the Resurgence, we keep the center of Christmas focused on Jesus; it’s probably what Nicholas would have wanted."

C. S. Lewis:

2008-11-09T17:26:00.004-06:00

"Did you ever meet, or hear of, anyone who was converted from skepticism to a 'liberal' or 'demythologized' Christianity? I think that when unbelievers come in at all, they come in a good deal further. (Letters To Malcolm, 119)"

hey

2008-10-10T06:19:00.001-06:00

new blog. check it out.

reformersanonymous.com

some things are bigger than us

2008-09-11T07:38:00.002-06:00

new blog over at Reformers Anonymous. please take a look.

after dark comes a light - psalm 13

2008-09-08T21:59:00.003-06:00

how long o Lord? will You forget me forever?
how long will You hide Your face from me?

how long must i wrestle with my thoughts
and everyday have sorrow in my heart?
how long will my enemy triumph over me?

look on me and answer, o Lord my God.
give my eyes light, or i will sleep in death;

my enemies say, 'i will overcome him,'
and my foes rejoice even when i fall.

but i trust in Your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in Your salvation.

i will sing to the Lord,
for He has been good to me.

it is dark right now friends.

i don't sleep well, and i am plagued by depression. i long to be nearer to our great God, bless His name. i ache for Him. truly i do and have never until now understood the expression.

i am struggling against the mighty soul-drainer of apathetic flat line.

family, pray for my rescue, pray for ease of pain and restoration. but above all, pray for His glory to shine forth so brilliantly that it makes the sun seem but a spark that quickly fades.

come Lord Jesus.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

2008-08-05T15:19:00.003-06:00

amanda has written a new blog. it is powerful, unashamedly confrontational, and if read with a humble spirit, will convict its reader. some it will harden, but such is the cross of our Lord and Saviour.

check it out.

psst, look over here

2008-07-08T02:37:00.003-06:00

all,

i just want to let you know about something i'm taking part it. a few friends and i have started writing on a discussion oriented blog. it is just the five of us for now, but we would love to have more people involved. feel free to check it out. click the following. The Synod.

Love has come for you

2008-05-29T16:24:00.003-06:00

below are the lyrics to a song by derek webb and caedmon's call. in my opinion, it was one of the best presentations of the gospel through song in existance. if you have never heard it, visit their myspace to take a listen.

Ten Thousand Angels

how long you have traveled in darkness weeping
no rest in language, no words to speak
but there in the wreckage beneath bricks and bindings
love has come, love has come for you

against the night sky of your waiting
your face is like starlight when he walks in
everything worth keeping comes through dying
love has come, love has come for you

so lift up your heart now, to this unfolding
all that has been broken will be restored
here runs deep waters for all who are thirsty
love has come, love has come for you

ten thousand angels will light your pathway
until the day breaks fully in the East
they will surround you and make your way straight
love has come, love has come for you
love has come, love has come for you

red

2008-05-04T20:37:00.006-06:00

a puddle began to form beneath him, at the base of the tree. a puddle of dirty red liquid spilled from enough cuts to make him unrecognizable even to his momma. it poured out of him, from his scalp and his ears, his cheeks and his jawline where they ripped out his beard. it ran from his shoulders and arms that were torn open by the beatings, his chest and back, where the muscles lay exposed from the whips. from his waist, hips, thighs, calves, and everything in between it ran down, as if trying to satisfy the thirst of the earth below him. from his perforated hands and feet it fled his body, turning the wood beneath him an ugly black-brown.

his momma watched the blood of her son leave his body just as quickly as her tears left hers, not yet knowing how great a sight she witnessed. the man they made carry the tree for him got some on his clothes, stains that he'd probably never get out. the thorns they shoved on his head dripped with his blood, it ran from his nose like a faucet not turned all the way off. he spoke around it as it pooled in his mouth, his lips and gums mashed from their fists and feet.

at the end it streamed out around a spear they stuck in him to make sure he was good and dead.

that blood they beat out him, that blood that poured out of the wounds he carried, that blood that his heart sent pulsing around his body, that blood that soaked the earth beneath him...

that blood makes me clean, and will never fail me.

eph. 1:7, heb. 9:12, rom. 5:9

rescue the perishing...care for the dying...

2008-04-23T18:43:00.013-06:00

The Devil Came on Horseback. Watch it.

pistol

2008-04-22T18:38:00.000-06:00

what i'm listening to, what i'm feeling...

taylor mali on what teachers make

2008-04-13T18:05:00.001-06:00

...

2008-04-08T22:00:00.000-06:00

i love it when your hard drive crashes and you lose everything, including photos from your wedding that aren't anywhere else and all your wife's school stuff when she is in the final countdown and needs it all for her end of the year stuff.

awesome.

sorry

2008-04-05T21:48:00.001-06:00

we are having some crazy computer issues and they occurred right in the middle of me starting to change my blog around, so it could be awhile before things settle down around here...

2008-03-28T13:25:00.009-06:00

Snow!

2008-03-03T22:06:00.009-06:00

Luke 18.25

2008-02-22T07:07:00.001-06:00

by Karsten Piper

He spread his blanket on the sand,
kneeled and arranged his bowls and tools:
hook, mallet, clamp, chisel, rasp, razor.

His smile glinted in the rongeur’s claws,
and upside down in the curette’s spoon.
Light shone out of the needle’s eye.

“Hoosh,” he said and began plucking hairs,
paring calluses, shearing wool, shaving
to the follicles, cutting to the quick.

He sorted these, trimming skin with skin,
hair with hair, into rows of clay bowls,
and set a large basin to catch each sour drip

as he sliced the hide and used both fists
to yank back the whole stubbled, gray pelt,
as wet and red on its underside as afterbirth.

He piled this heavily away, draping it
in clean linen, and turned to the meat and bone
heaving under sheer, tight membrane.

Sawteeth chewed into femur, rib and shoulder.
Pliers twisted and wrenched away tendons
until everything softened, canted, and collapsed—

yet not one sliver dies. Each ribbon and shard
bawls for the horror and hurt of their missing,
wishing for the old braying wholeness.

Pain bloodies evening and morning,
stabbing day after day from even the first cuts,
like the slow light of far stars.

Eyeballs and heart float alone in the last bowl,
dark and defenseless, quavering when he leans down
and they recognize in his eyes how little is left.

“Easy now, Camel,” he says and lifts me
in his fingertips, one quivering strand at a time,
through the eye of the needle.

this makes my soul happy

2008-02-19T07:09:00.002-06:00

"...he is authoritative. 'I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne.' No vision of heaven has ever caught a glimpse of God plowing a field, or cutting his grass or shining shoes or filling out reports or loading a truck. Heaven is not coming apart at the seams. God is never at wits' end with his heavenly realm. He sits. And he sits on a throne. All is at peace and he has control.

The throne is his right to rule the world. We do not give God authority over our lives. He has it whether we like it or not. What utter folly it is to act as though we had any rights at all to call God into question! We need to hear now and then blunt words like those of Virginia Stem Owens who said in last month's Reformed Journal,

'Let us get this one thing straight. God can do anything he damn well pleases, including damn well. And if it pleases him to damn, then it is done, ipso facto, well. God's activity is what it is. There isn't anything else. Without it there would be no being, including human beings presuming to judge the Creator of everything that is.'

Few things are more humbling, few things give us that sense of raw majesty, as the truth that God is utterly authoritative. He is the Supreme Court, the Legislature, and the Chief Executive. After him, no appeal."

- John Piper, www.desiringgod.org

only One...

2008-02-13T18:46:00.003-06:00

the lyrics of this song proclaim a truth that stirs my heart; it proclaims a truth that is true even if doesn't stir hearts...

Left his seamless robe behind
Woke up in a stable crying
Lived and died and rose again
Savior for a guilty land

It’s a story like a children’s tune
And it’s grown familiar as the moon
So now I ride my camel high
And I’m aiming for the needle’s eye

I chased the wind, but I chased in vain
I chased the earth, but it would not sustain

There’s only one who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There’s only one who sets loose the gales
And ties the trees down tight
When all around my soul gives way
He is all my hope and stay
There’s only one, only one Holy One

Lord, You are my Prince of Peace
But this war brings me to my knees
See there’s a table You’ve prepared
And all my enemies are there
But where my Shepherd leads
Where else can I go
Who else fills my cup till it overflows

There’s only one who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There’s only one who sets loose the gales
And ties the trees down tight
To the Solid Rock I fly
Though He bids me come and die
There’s only one, only one Holy One

HEY YOU!

2008-01-06T09:59:00.000-06:00

go read part two of amanda's latest blog!

happy new year!

2008-01-02T00:21:00.001-06:00

and go read my wife's blog (part one of two).

2007-12-19T19:22:00.000-06:00

2007-12-14T17:53:00.000-06:00

2007-12-04T18:38:00.001-06:00

update: part 2

2007-11-25T10:16:00.000-06:00

well, good news.

i start my new job with Penske Truck Leasing on tuesday morning at 8am!

update: my pockets are empty

2007-11-08T14:14:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to give everyone an update from us.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I was asked to resign my position, effective immediately, with the consulting firm I had been working for. It was not unexpected, but certainly still difficult. I'm already deep in the process of looking for a new job, but the next few weeks will be a trying time.

I fully believe that ours is indeed a great God who knows and does what is best for His children, so that does bring comfort in a hard time like this. Please be praying for Amanda and I as we search for and pray for God's will for this time to be revealed. We covet your prayers and friendships and look forward to sharing with you how awesomely God works through this.

Stay in touch, I love you all.

on being little, some more

2007-10-07T08:35:00.000-06:00

***

I remember some kindergarten. In kindergarten we learned about letters and they all had their own personalities. Mrs. U looked like an umbrella (ella ella a) or parasol and was supposed to be dainty. My favorite was Mr. S. Mr. S was most definitely a superhero. My introduction to Mr. S was the beginning of a fascination with superheroes that has persisted to this day. My favorite memory of kindergarten is the day we got to dress up in costume as our favorite letter. I was going to be Mr. S, there was no other option. I was so excited. The only problem was that I forgot to tell my parents about needing a costume until the day, before the momentous occasion. Luckily, Dad was understanding and took me to the store for supplies.

I often wonder at the part of my memory. I can only remember Dad helping me with my costume. I wonder if I just don't remember Mom helping me, if she didn't help, or if it was all her and I just remember it wrong.

The costume was perfect. I had a domino mask (think of a certain sidekick named after a little red bird) attached to my face with some string. A black shirt with a wonderful, huge red "S" sewn onto the chest, and some tube sock for some reason. The "S" was made out of some sort of fabricky rope; I remember liking how it was made. I was Mr. S. I was no longer a mere kindergartner who struggled to write his R's correctly. I was THE Mr. S.

***

Why are we embracing accusation?

2007-09-23T17:42:00.000-06:00

This is from Kent's blog. It is written by Geoff Ashley.

The following is a letter written by my friend Geoff Ashley. I am so thankful to the Lord to walk with this man everyday, and to know him as a brother in Christ.

An Open Response to Recent Criticism
of The Village Church’s Use of“Embracing Accusation”
On the weekend of September 15th and 16th, 2007, Michael Bleecker, Worship Pastor at The Village Church, introduced the song, “Embracing Accusation,” originally written by Shane Barnard and recorded by Shane and Shane. After giving a brief overview of the Biblical context of the song, Michael asked the congregation to be seated and allow the worship team to sing it over them.

The following week Michael in particular received some intensely negative feedback regarding the song. Not only did the discouragement include questions of the validity of the message, but even questioned Michael’s maturity and theological prowess in choosing such a song.

The lyrics to the song are as follows:

Father of lies, coming to steal kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying, “cursed are the ones who can’t abide”
He’s right, halleluia, he’s right
The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation
Could the father of lies be telling the truth of
God to me tonight?
That if the penalty of sin is death, then death is mine
I hear him saying, “cursed are the ones who can’t abide”
The devil’s singing over me an age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently over me
He’s forgotten the refrain.
JESUS SAVES!!!

As a friend and co-worker of Michael’s I thought I would offer up the following defense, though I am quite sure it is unnecessary. The following are simply my thoughts as to the validity of singing such an apparently controversial song.

1. The message is Biblically-accurate
2. The method is Biblically-established
3. The minister is Biblically-faithful

1. The message is Biblically-accurate

The song is derived from Galatians 3:10-13 which reads:

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"

Satan is indeed the father of lies (John 8:44), who has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). No man will ever be good enough and so all such hope is no hope at all (Romans 3:20).

Does Satan literally sing and preach accusation over us? No, but it is a song and that involves poetry and symbolism. We do know that Satan is the accuser (being the Hebrew term for it) and even that he is said to constantly make accusation against the brethren day and night (Revelation 12:10).

The fact is the law brings forth a curse and that all who rely upon this law are therefore under the curse. Since none of us are able to stand up to the law’s demands, we are worthy of the curse and unworthy of life. If that is the accusation leveled against us by Satan, then he is right. We are not worthy of anything but wrath!

Just because he is the father of lies, that doesn’t mean that everything he says is a complete falsehood. Rather, he masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) and perverts and corrupts the truth to suit his malicious purposes (see Genesis 3). He twists and bends the truth just enough.

The song tells a truth. All truth is God’s truth. Truth is good.

2. The method is Biblically-established

Some complaints hinted that a song which focuses so much of the text upon Satan is therefore a song chiefly concerned with Satan. However, the fact that we sing about something doesn’t mean that we are praising the thing about which we are singing. Furthermore, don’t a vast number of Psalms direct a great many words toward speaking of the unrighteous and the enemies of the Psalmist? Would singing that Psalm therefore indicate a perverse praise of such enemies? Hardly! The Scriptures are replete with examples of a similar method of using the enemies of God to contrast the righteous and using examples of sin to establish the faithfulness of Christ’s triumph over it.

One expressed concern involved the fact that Jesus was not explicitly mentioned until the end of the song. However, such concern is unwarranted for a couple of reasons. First, the gospel is founded on the inability of man to fulfill the law. Without the bad news, there is no good news. We must start with a problem before a solution makes sense. Second, the nature of biblical revelation is explicitly progressive. The Bible starts with the goodness of Eden, but it takes some thousands of pages until we again get to perfection. It takes an entire Old Testament before we explicitly meet the Son of God and an entire gospel before we find its heart, the slaughter and resurrection of Christ. The Bible utilizes the literary method of suspense to dramatize the uniqueness and power of salvation. The song should not be faulted for doing a similar work.

3. The minister is Biblically-faithful

Some complaints, as mentioned, questioned the maturity or wisdom of Michael in choosing such a song, concerned that there is no process by which songs are filtered for theological content. As to this concern that Michael acts as a Lone Ranger in choosing songs, with no oversight whatsoever, there should be no apprehension. A number of times, I and other pastors have received phone calls and/or e-mails from Michael as to the theological content of the songs which are sung. I have hardly heard a single new song introduced which has not been adequately thought through by various pastors.

In addition, Michael is a true student of the word. So passionate is he for teaching God’s truth that he leads his team in regular meetings in which he works through the doctrines presented in Grudem’s, Systematic Theology. Not normal fare for a worship pastor, I am sure.

To be perfectly honest, I have yet to meet another worship pastor (not that there are none out there) with an equaled passion for doctrinal purity and for using the media of song to teach the beautiful truths of Christ to the church. I am ever thankful that I can rest easy in trusting that Michael will not lead the hearts or minds of the flock away from the Shepherd.

Conclusion:

I certainly understand that some people did not enjoy the song, but my hope is that we will all recognize that dislike alone should not open the door for criticism. Hopefully all who have concerns will recognize that the issue is not one of wisdom, but personal preference. True, the song is not inerrant (not much is), but it did not violate Scripture. Furthermore, the congregation wasn’t even led to participate in singing the song. Rather, truth, in a creative manner, was sung over the audience. We were told to listen and absorb. We must keep in mind that not all share our preferences and desires.

Lastly, I thought I would mention the fact that a number of congregants were deeply touched by the message. Tuesday morning I received an e-mail from a friend speaking of the depth of worship he experienced in having woken up the night before with the words of the song in his mind. As he pondered the words over and over, he realized not only the validity of the message, but also his own frailty in having bitten the bait so often. Just this very evening I came home to find one of my roommates listening to the song. When I asked him his thoughts on it, he shared that he had been meditating on the message for the past couple of days. Over and over he listened to the song while praying that he might remember the refrain. The gospel demands that we not only remember that Jesus saves, but that we remember from what it is that we are saved (notice all the commands to remember throughout Scripture).

The truth is that we all have our own feelings and preferences. Some people were ambivalent toward the song, some people were frustrated, but others were broken, encouraged, edified and taught by it. It is painfully clear that no person, no church, no church service and no song can please everyone. We are all different and God has wired and gifted us in different ways. These distinctions should be embraced.

Let us not fall victim to judging people or things by a yoke which is not justified. The fact is that Michael chose a song which violated neither Scriptural truths nor principles. Let us remember the lies and, ultimately, the truth which sets us free – Jesus saves!

Amen.

-Geoff Ashley

again on being little...

2007-09-07T21:52:00.000-06:00

***

The next thing is pre-kindergarten or the electrician's store my Mom used to work at. I don't know which memory occurred first in real life. I also know that Mom and I went to visit Dad at his work, but I don't remember anything about it until I'm older

***

on being little...

2007-09-01T09:24:00.001-06:00

My wife, Amanda, and I were talking the other day about our first memories. Her first memory is from when she was five or six, right around first grade. It has something to do with football (or some other game involving catch), her little brother's arm being broken, and the neighborhood "boy-girl." When Amanda says "boy-girl," what she doesn't mean is transgender. What she means is tomboy but when you are little you don't always know the "proper" terminology. When you're older sometimes you still don't know. My first memory is from when I was around one year old. I remember a big person, who it turns out was my mom, strapping me into a car seat inside what felt like a massive car. But I was one, it could have been a VW bug and it would've seemed gigantic. I remember the big person buckling me up, then leaning back out of the car and shutting the door. What I remember next is panic. I didn't know it was panic, but I remember feeling what I now identify as panic. I remember a tightening in my chest, as if I couldn't get any air,I remember reaching and straining my arms towards the window, trying so hard to reach the big person, who for some reason just strapped me down and left me here alone, and not being able to grab them. Then the big person stepped out of my line of sight, presumably to talk to the other big person with the black stuff under their nose, which turned out to be my dad. Then I remember the first big person reappearing at the window, smiling at me, opening the passenger door, climbing in, and then turning around to look at me over the edge for their seat. Then I remember feeling happy. I must made a cute face or sound I guess because the big person smiled, said something I don't remember (in my defense, I didn't speak English yet), smiled again, and then turned back around. That is were the memory gets fuzzy and I don't remember anymore.

***

trust, provision, and the internet

2007-07-11T11:30:00.000-06:00

i wrote this in my down time at work and slapped it up just so everyone kinda knows whats going on. amanda and i don't have internet at the APT right now. there is wireless we could buy but since we are moving in less than a week and a half, that seems sort of pointless. so blog updates might be scarce for awhile, and myspace/facebook appearances will be even fewer for a little bit.

things have been really stressful lately. i thought getting a job would relieve some stress but it really has created more. the good thing about that is that once again i've had to face up to the fact that i can't do this on my own. that i am completely weak and frail and unable to carry myself. and facing up to that has been hard, but absolutely wonderful. and since i've had to face that i've had to face the fact that i can't be a good husband on my own. i might be able to be romantic and sweet and 'take care' of her financially, but if i am not leading her as more than a 'good' husband, if i am not leading her as the Bible demands, all is pointless. but you know that.

i'm just enjoying having to be completely reliant on God to provide. i mean, saturday night as i lay in bed praying, my prayer was literally, "God i have no idea what amanda and i are going to eat for the next week. i'm out of ideas, i've got nothing left, You know that. i've literally got $2.14 in my bank account. You know that. please provide, i trust You, You've yet to not take care of us.'

the next day a good friend gave me a $10 bill. in the long run that isn't much money i suppose, but with it we were able to buy a loaf of bread, some bananas and a bag of potatoes. that is food, that will last the week. God provided. sure i would have loved for that $10 to be more, but how dare i be ungrateful for what God in His sovereignty provides?

all that to say, this has and is really a time of growing in faith and learning to trust God more and more. thanks for your prayers, keep praying. see you later

FYI, God has provided even more and we are fine now. not great, but we definitely won't go hungry and we will be able to pay our bills.

hello again

2007-07-04T09:55:00.000-06:00

wow, almost two months and no updates. my apologies.

i'm trying to remember everything that has changed so i can write about it, but really the only thing that stands out is that God has provided me with a job. i am now an import/export consulting agent for a company named Mainland China Trading & Consulting Co.

my job is relatively simple. i spend around six hours a day, monday through friday on the phone. i, using various resources that i had no idea existed before now, look up U.S. manufacturers that produce labor intensive goods (production cost is at least 40% labor) as opposed to material intensive and call their CEO's, Presidents, or Owners. when i get a hold of them, i just chat with them and, essentially, try to woo them into producing their goods in our factories.

oh real quickly let me explain. the company (mctc) is run by a gentleman named murray smith and his chinese wife hui (pronounced 'way'). murray, hui, and some other members of her family own about 14 factories in china. don't worry, none of them are sweatshops.

ok, so back the bigshots. the aspect of sourcing to china that we try to emphasize is that our company OWNS the factories. things literally go from our office straight our chinese engineers. the reason that is so applying to these bigshots is because we are one company, that means we are not brokers. we are not middlemen who could potentially rip them off. they are essentially dealing directly with our factories. the other benefit is that because we are the factories, the bigshots don't have to worry about us reproducing their goods and selling them elsewhere as is common when you source to a factory through a broker. it is just bad business for us to flood the market with a product, we would be competing against ourselves.

so blahblahblah, i have a job. God is faithful.

also, if you want to, be praying for my parents, a couple weeks ago we found out that my youngest sister (18 years old) is pregnant. my dad is having a really hard time.

see you around.

children of the burning heart

2007-05-11T12:40:00.000-06:00

i've been thinking lately about what matt always says about "when did the busyness of suburban life become a badge we proudly wear?" this is something i really struggle with because i like being busy, i like having things constantly going, but right now that isn't the case...so i've really been trying to take advantage of this time to spend more time in the Word, and its been great. just being simple in my communication with God, and not being out chasing the next best thing.

one of the things that keeps coming to mind is something a.w. tozer wrote in The Pursuit of God. he said:

"Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our great woe. If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One."
i really like that. it hits home for me...

on another note, tozer is the author of what is probably my all time favorite quote:

"To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart."

thats good stuff right there...

can time be so short?

2007-05-09T16:43:00.000-06:00

the new derek webb cd (the ringing bell) came out last week. i haven't bought it, but i have listened to all the songs on it, and i think it is really good. track number three is titled, "a love that's stronger than our fear," and it has really hit home for me. it fairly accurately sums up a lot of things i've been thinking about and feeling for the past few years. i can't really explain it except to say that, and i'm sure i'm not the only one who feels this way, every so often i hear a song or run across someone's writing that stirs something in me. i think instead of rambling on, i'm just going to post the song lyrics so they can speak for themselves...

"a love that's stronger than our fear"

what would you do
if someone put a gun to your head
and ask you to tell them a lie
what would you say
if you were pushed that way
to betray yourself to keep yourself alive
is life worth so much

there’s got to be a love that’s stronger than our fear
of everything being out of control
everything being out of control

what would you do
if someone would tell you the truth
but only if you torture them half to death
tell me since when do the means justify the ends
and you build the kingdom using the devil’s tools
can time be so short

there is a day that’s been inaugurated but has not yet come
that we can proclaim by showing that there’s a better way

------------

that's all for now...