Success

I've heard from business people, and I've seen proof in many areas, including sports, business, pastoring, and politics, that it isn't talent that brings success. It isn't know how, abilities, or even common sense. There are two ingredients: discipline and drive.

By discipline I mean the ability to force yourself to do what needs to be done rather than what you'd like to do. By drive I mean a never ending stamina and determination to just keep pounding away at what you want. This combination necessitates a certain humility.

I am taken to the story of the Akron Zips' head coach, J.D. Brookhart. I watched Akron play Memphis in the Motor City Bowl, and the announcers told the story. He was a successful software salesman making a very comfortable living, but he felt that he wanted to coach football. Finally, he quit and became an unpaid intern for Mike Shanahan simply to learn the game. He washed cars, ran errands, and did functions that a high school kid might do. But, soon he had an assistant's job. Brookhart became an assistant coach at Pitt for seven years. Now, he's the second year head coach of Akron, and he's turned the program around...making a name for himself.

My question is: "How badly do I want to write?" Am I spending my spare time watching TV or just chillin' out when I should be relentless in my disciplined writing? I should be writing more every day.

It's easy to be an arrogant, prideful nothing. We can easily see how poorly others succeed, but what do we do?

There are many times more mutual funds than there are stocks. There are many more analysts than mutual funds. There are more critics than movie producers. There are more sports writers and commentators than football players.

The point is that it's far easier to live comfortably without real discipline and criticize those who are humbling themselves to discipline themselves and plod endlessly toward their goal.
To whom much is given much is required

The Godfather

I was watching the Godfather the other day, and I was struck by something Marlon Brando, as Don Corelleoni, said. "Men cannot live carelessly. Women and children can live carelessly, but men cannot live carelessly" (paraphrased).

We men should live careful lives of circumspection and planning. We should take the cares of the women and the children and deal with them. We should be providing carefree and tranquil environments for our loved ones. Our spouses and children shouldn't have to worry about food, clothing, housing, violence, or unattainable expectations.

Another aspect of this careful living is our attention to what our spouses and children are taught. It is the father's and husband's responsibility to oversee the catechising of the children and the wife. If he, through poor choices or through laziness, allows for a poorly educated and poorly groomed family it is a shame to him.

His example in godliness in personal matters, faithfulness in financial and contractual matters, and honesty in matters of integrity are the building blocks of the future.

The Urban Redneck Christian


Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing. I am taken back to Al Wolever's comment that perhaps the weakest of Christians are the ones chosen as clergy. Perhaps if they were not clergy they would not be living Christ like. When I was pastoring, I was astonished more than once at the piety and devotion of laymen. It is humbling to supposedly lead others who are more devout that yourself. It is even more humbling to be called on the carpet by laymen for legitimate mistakes or poor judgements that result from a lack of piety.

Here's my bottom line though. My Christianity isn't a neat, well dressed, pants pressed, hair nicely groomed, soft spoken and tender touching Christianity. My Christianity has always been big boned and mis-shapen. It has wrinkled clothing, flaws and poor workmanship. My Christianity has always been hard,messy and even a bit neanderthal. I practice a knuckle dragging Christianity. My Christianity is one of sin and forgiveness. It is one of mistakes andrepentence, and it is based solely on mercy. I hate the sin in my life, but I still sin. I especially hate the fact that sometimes I love the sin that I'm supposed to hate...I feel trapped. I can only plead as Paul for Christ to deliver me from this body of death.

I despise the cookie cutter, pressed pants, limp wristed, soft spokenChristianity. When I meet one of these androgenous Christian men, I leavefeeling like I picked up a leaky syrup bottle and I've got the soft, gooey half dry syrup all over my hands. The sappy, soft, sweet Christianity is vile and destestable to me. I may dry heave.

My questions are thus: Is it wrong for me to feel this way about an emasculated Christianity? Why do I feel like taking the average, modern, let's just sithere and love the whole friggin' world, and giving them the finger while I tell them to take a long walk off a short pier.

Radu No.2 (the Moldovan)

I met the second Radu of my life today. I had a professor in college named Radu Teodoresku from Romainia. He claimed to speak 12 languages, but I gathered that he spoke none of them very well.

Radu, today's Radu, came up to me at a restaurant and asked me to make a donation for "international learning programs" or some such thing. He would give me a fancy homemade card or picture in return for said donation. He spoke with a thick Eastern European accent (Moldovan), and he wore a stocking cap. Radu was most gracious and even when turned down time and time agian he wished each person a great holiday season.

After he left, I wished I had bought a card.

The Good Earth

Pearl S. Buck was well rewarded with the Pulitzer Prize for her masterful prose in The Good Earth. I have just finished reading the book, but I'm sure that I'll be continuing to discover the impact of the book on my life for years to come.

I was particularly struck by Buck's themes which set a series of dicotomies.

The vitrue of productivity and of saving versus the evil of waste and consumption is a prominent theme. And, Wang Lung, the protagonist of the story, is set in his thrift and work ethic against the laziness and constant spending of others such as his uncle and the Lords of the House of Hwang. Wang Lung ends up climbing from abject poverty to a position of riches and prominence largely because of his values...this is not discounting providence.

The cathartic and healing virtue of the land is set against the corrupt and vile nature of the towns and cities. Wang Lung returns time and again to the Land in order to clear his mind and heal all that ailed him. The land possesses a mystical quality. Even in the very end, Wang returns to the land in order to die in peace; however, the tragic truth of the future overshadows the goodness of the Land. The land possesses true value and is the true measure of wealth for Wang Lung.

The difficulties and trials that women go through in this life as a result of poor decisions and a lack of self control on the part of men is made clear. Olan, Wang Lung's wife, is, while not a supermodel of beauty, a vitruous and dependable wife. After bearing Wang Lung children, significantly contributing to the wealth of the household, and enabling the family to survive the drought, Olan is forced aside by a dainty beauty who stirred passion within Wang Lung. I'm not sure if the lessen here is for men or women. I think that while men should obviously treat there wife with dignity and truly love her, wives must recognize the ongoing importance of her desirability. The dicotomy between the physically desirable and the self sacrifice of love is a hard thing. Throughout the book, the physically desirable wins horribly again and again, and Buck states again and again that men are not unique.

I would heartily recommend this book set in pre-revolutionary China for it's insights on life and it's superb readability. I look forward to seeing how the book impacts my life.

Heidelberg One:

I just finished reading Richard Mouw’s book Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport. Mouw is concerned with the stark nature of Calvinism, and the lack of personal, experiential engagement with society. Not that Calvinism is sterile or that it lacks experience, but Calvinists tend to be more concerned with an academic style correctness over personal relationship. I found the book interesting, challenging, and largely instructive for me.

Mouw presses us to do what a Welsh preacher advised a couple of hundred years ago:

He urged his fellow Calvinist preachers to try to be a little more “careless” in interpreting the Bible. Not that he was recommending “the carelessness of levity,” he quickly explained, “but rather the carelessness of faith.” Many a Calvinist colleague, he observed, “will spend an hour’s exegesis on the word ‘world’; it will almost take his breath away to utter ‘all’; he will circumnavigate land and sea to avoid meeting ‘everyone’.” But the fact is, he went on, the Bible uses the words “all” and “world” in a fairly straightforward manner. “Trust more in the Bible, I implore you,” he concluded.

Mouw points out that eventually, as we read the Bible and ponder God’s ways, we will get to the point Paul did. We will break forth in song as he did in Romans 11. Eventually we have nothing to do or say but break forth with the greatness of the Lord.

Mouw closes the book with the remarkable statement from the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, often referred to as Heidelberg One.

My only comfort in life and death is that I am not my own.

I am a little uncomfortable with what Mouw calls his eclecticism, but what I might call a universalism tendency. I find him humble though, and he really brings out the humility of Calvinist theology. I believe that God brought me to Calvinism because it humbles the Christian. Lord knows I need humility. How much more humble can one get than “I am not my own!”

Good Books

I like to give an update on what I've been reading occassionally. Hopefully I can help others who like to read good books. I am very discriminating when it comes to my reading time. I recently finished a book of short stories by J.D. Salinger called Nine Stories. I would hardily recommend it as a great read. I won't go into it here because I want to write a bit about the book I'm currently reading.

Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin won the Pulitzer Prize For Fiction in 1928. The story is about a Southern black girl named Mary and her journy spiralling downward morally, socially, and economically. The "scarlet" reference is to Nathaniel Hawthorn's The Scarlet Letter.

Mary's story is a classic. She is raised in the church and was taught right and wrong, but she lacked a father figure in her life. Consequently, there was no strong and loving father to keep her from being deceived by lazy, irresponible, sweet talking boys, and unfortunately, Mary chooses to wed an irresponsible, womanizing letch instead of the strong, caring, and reliable man.

I'm not all the way through the book, but I'm at a point where Mary is just beginning to really pay the price for her poor choices. July, her husband, just left her for the evening to openly cavort with another woman who he had been with many times. The woman openly flaunts her affair with July in Mary's face, and Mary stays at home with the baby Unex waiting for July's return so he can bully her. July beats her up, and fraternizes with Cinder, the other woman.

Eventually (I'm not there yet.) July leaves her, and Mary ends up having a dozen children out of wedlock with no man to care for her. Her sins are scarlet red. The story is reminiscient of Moll Flanders and her progressive descent into sin.

I guess I'll just leave this all by stating the obvious...Fathers are vitally important to the future of our civilization. Absent fathers are a curse upon their daughters, and uninvolved fathers aren't much better.

When Our Heros Die (i.e., prove to be human)

Yesterday, I learned some things about someone who I hold very dear. I look up to this person, and I hope to one day achieve a fraction of the personal success and maturity that I've witnessed and sensed. This is truly one of my heros.

I learned that my hero wasn't as perfect a human being as I'd always imagined. My hero wasn't the greatest, the best, the fastest, or the smartest. My hero isn't the most loving, the most devoted, the most virtuous, or the most honest. My hero may not even be above average, but my hero is mine.

I wonder what it would be like if at age 10 or 11 I realized that my father was lying to me…or I realized he was a criminal…or I realized that he was immoral. I can’t imagine how that would crush a boy. But I kinda felt this way with the death of my hero.

When our heroes die, we are reminded of our own humanity…our own mortality. We are reminded that we are sinful, creatures who are dependant upon a loving God and not upon our own ability.

Me Blogging!

Council of Orange

Augustine of Hippo (aka Saint Augustine) stood nose to nose with the blasphemer Palagius during one of the greatest controversies in church history. Unfortunately, the truth of Augustine has been virtually completely lost on the modern church.

The Council of Orange dealt with the Semi-Pelagian heresy by issuing the Canons of Orange. Semi-Pelagian heresy… catch this…is a doctrine that the human race, though fallen and possessed of a sinful nature, is still "good" enough to able to lay hold of the grace of God through an act of unredeemed human will.

Understand that the Semi-Pelagian said that yes we all fell with Adam and that we are sinful, but it is an act of our own will, unredeemed though it may be, that effectuates salvation. We pray or accept the Lord by making our own choice by our own will.

Augustine, and the entire church, said that God regenerates those whom He wills, and the regenerate then calls out to God. Regeneration takes place first, and the sinful, unregenerate man is incapable of calling upon the Lord.

My only question is that this whole controversy was settled in 529…why is there such ignorance and rejection of the truth by the modern evangelical church? span>

The Canons Of The Council Of Orange

Canon 1.
If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was "changed for the worse" through the offense of Adam's sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only the body is subject to corruption, he is deceived by the error of Pelagius and contradicts the scripture which says, "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:20); and, "Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey?" (Rom. 6:126); and, "For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved" (2 Pet. 2:19).

Canon 2.
If anyone asserts that Adam's sin affected him alone and not his descendants also, or at least if he declares that it is only the death of the body which is the punishment for sin, and not also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man to the whole human race, he does injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle, who says, "Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

Canon 3.

If anyone says that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle who says the same thing, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (Rom 10:20, quoting Isa. 65:1).

Canon 4.
If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself who says through Solomon, "The will is prepared by the Lord" (Prov. 8:35, LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

Canon 5.

If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism — if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says, "And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). For those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ by definition in some measure believers.

Canon 6.
If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10).

Canon 7.
If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in the Gospel, "For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), and the word of the Apostle, "Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5).

Canon 8.
If anyone maintains that some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all those who have been born after the transgression of the first man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through the sin of the first man, or at least holds that it has been affected in such a way that they have still the ability to seek the mystery of eternal salvation by themselves without the revelation of God. The Lord himself shows how contradictory this is by declaring that no one is able to come to him "unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44), as he also says to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17), and as the Apostle says, "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3).

Canon 9.
Concerning the succor of God. It is a mark of divine favor when we are of a right purpose and keep our feet from hypocrisy and unrighteousness; for as often as we do good, God is at work in us and with us, in order that we may do so.

Canon 10.
Concerning the succor of God. The succor of God is to be ever sought by the regenerate and converted also, so that they may be able to come to a successful end or persevere in good works.

Canon 11.
Concerning the duty to pray. None would make any true prayer to the Lord had he not received from him the object of his prayer, as it is written, "Of thy own have we given thee" (1 Chron. 29:14).

Canon 12.
Of what sort we are whom God loves. God loves us for what we shall be by his gift, and not by our own deserving.

Canon 13.
Concerning the restoration of free will. The freedom of will that was destroyed in the first man can be restored only by the grace of baptism, for what is lost can be returned only by the one who was able to give it. Hence the Truth itself declares: "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

Canon 14.
No mean wretch is freed from his sorrowful state, however great it may be, save the one who is anticipated by the mercy of God, as the Psalmist says, "Let thy compassion come speedily to meet us" (Ps. 79:8), and again, "My God in his steadfast love will meet me" (Ps. 59:10).

Canon 15.
Adam was changed, but for the worse, through his own iniquity from what God made him. Through the grace of God the believer is changed, but for the better, from what his iniquity has done for him. The one, therefore, was the change brought about by the first sinner; the other, according to the Psalmist, is the change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 77:10).

Canon 16.
No man shall be honored by his seeming attainment, as though it were not a gift, or suppose that he has received it because a missive from without stated it in writing or in speech. For the Apostle speaks thus, "For if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21); and "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men" (Eph. 4:8, quoting Ps. 68:18). It is from this source that any man has what he does; but whoever denies that he has it from this source either does not truly have it, or else "even what he has will be taken away" (Matt. 25:29).

Canon 17.
Concerning Christian courage. The courage of the Gentiles is produced by simple greed, but the courage of Christians by the love of God which "has been poured into our hearts" not by freedom of will from our own side but "through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5).

Canon 18.
That grace is not preceded by merit. Recompense is due to good works if they are performed; but grace, to which we have no claim, precedes them, to enable them to be done.

Canon 19.
That a man can be saved only when God shows mercy. Human nature, even though it remained in that sound state in which it was created, could be no means save itself, without the assistance of the Creator; hence since man cannot safe- guard his salvation without the grace of God, which is a gift, how will he be able to restore what he has lost without the grace of God?

Canon 20.
That a man can do no good without God. God does much that is good in a man that the man does not do; but a man does nothing good for which God is not responsible, so as to let him do it.

Canon 21.
Concerning nature and grace. As the Apostle most truly says to those who would be justified by the law and have fallen from grace, "If justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21), so it is most truly declared to those who imagine that grace, which faith in Christ advocates and lays hold of, is nature: "If justification were through nature, then Christ died to no purpose." Now there was indeed the law, but it did not justify, and there was indeed nature, but it did not justify. Not in vain did Christ therefore die, so that the law might be fulfilled by him who said, "I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them" (Matt. 5:17), and that the nature which had been destroyed by Adam might be restored by him who said that he had come "to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

Canon 22.
Concerning those things that belong to man. No man has anything of his own but untruth and sin. But if a man has any truth or righteousness, it is from that fountain for which we must thirst in this desert, so that we may be refreshed from it as by drops of water and not faint on the way.

Canon 23.
Concerning the will of God and of man. Men do their own will and not the will of God when they do what displeases him; but when they follow their own will and comply with the will of God, however willingly they do so, yet it is his will by which what they will is both prepared and instructed.

Canon 24.
Concerning the branches of the vine. The branches on the vine do not give life to the vine, but receive life from it; thus the vine is related to its branches in such a way that it supplies them with what they need to live, and does not take this from them. Thus it is to the advantage of the disciples, not Christ, both to have Christ abiding in them and to abide in Christ. For if the vine is cut down another can shoot up from the live root; but one who is cut off from the vine cannot live without the root (John 15:5ff).

Canon 25.
Concerning the love with which we love God. It is wholly a gift of God to love God. He who loves, even though he is not loved, allowed himself to be loved. We are loved, even when we displease him, so that we might have means to please him. For the Spirit, whom we love with the Father and the Son, has poured into our hearts the love of the Father and the Son (Rom. 5:5).

Conclusion.

And thus according to the passages of holy scripture quoted above or the interpretations of the ancient Fathers we must, under the blessing of God, preach and believe as follows. The sin of the first man has so impaired and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God's sake, unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him. We therefore believe that the glorious faith which was given to Abel the righteous, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and to all the saints of old, and which the Apostle Paul commends in extolling them (Heb. 11), was not given through natural goodness as it was before to Adam, but was bestowed by the grace of God. And we know and also believe that even after the coming of our Lord this grace is not to be found in the free will of all who desire to be baptized, but is bestowed by the kindness of Christ, as has already been frequently stated and as the Apostle Paul declares, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29). And again, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and it is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). And as the Apostle says of himself, "I have obtained mercy to be faithful" (1 Cor. 7:25, cf. 1 Tim. 1:13). He did not say, "because I was faithful," but "to be faithful." And again, "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). And again, "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (Jas. 1:17). And again, "No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27). There are innumerable passages of holy scripture which can be quoted to prove the case for grace, but they have been omitted for the sake of brevity, because further examples will not really be of use where few are deemed sufficient.

According to the catholic faith we also believe that after grace has been received through baptism, all baptized persons have the ability and responsibility, if they desire to labor faithfully, to perform with the aid and cooperation of Christ what is of essential importance in regard to the salvation of their soul. We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema. We also believe and confess to our benefit that in every good work it is not we who take the initiative and are then assisted through the mercy of God, but God himself first inspires in us both faith in him and love for him without any previous good works of our own that deserve reward, so that we may both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after baptism be able by his help to do what is pleasing to him. We must therefore most evidently believe that the praiseworthy faith of the thief whom the Lord called to his home in paradise, and of Cornelius the centurion, to whom the angel of the Lord was sent, and of Zacchaeus, who was worthy to receive the Lord himself, was not a natural endowment but a gift of God's kindness.

Sentimental Mentallity

“You love God, don’t you?” Nicholson asked…

“Yes, sure I love Him. But I don’t love Him sentimentally. He never said anybody had to love Him sentimentally,” Teddy said. “If I were God, I certainly wouldn’t want people to love me sentimentally. It’s too unreliable.”

Teddy, by J.D. Salinger

Several entries back, I wrote that I didn’t love God; however, I never really felt comfortable writing that because it didn’t really put a finger on the complete truth. I couldn’t put words to how I felt until now. Salinger masterfully nails the point in his short story Teddy.

We can look to Christ to see the results of sentiment. One day, the people hail him as the Messiah, and a few short days later they demand his crucifixion. “Sentiment” is derived from Latin, and it means thoughts resulting from feelings or emotion.

Sentimentality has become a code word for an emotionally soft, fluffy structure. It’s come to mean our feelings and whims of the moment.

Everyone is sentimental in it’s original meaning, and every decision is sentimental. Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, the premier advertising consultant in the world, points to brain anatomy. The area of the brain within which decisions are made is closest to the area of the brain responsible for feelings and emotions. It is further from the logic areas of the brain.

We’re all sentimental but we just value different feelings. I don’t value a fluffy, gushy feeling toward God. Rather, I value a respectful, humble, submissive feeling toward him. It’s different, but it the same in that it is still a feeling.

Well, there I am…just a big softy.

But For The Grace Of God

I’ve written before, I’m sure, of the little old church lady who gossiped to me once that so and so used to be a Christian but now he drinks. Well, I’m writing this entry sitting here with an ice cold Blue Moon, a Belgian White Wheat beer…and my favorite. And, I guess I’m going to Hell…at least according the self-righteous hypocrites among us.

I guess my definition of a hypocrite is one who judges others according to a law or according to requirements that they themselves are unwilling to abide by. I don’t see the hypocrisy in proclaiming Christ, claiming the redemption He bought for me, and sharing it with others all while I still sin on a regular basis. We don’t sin because we’re hypocrites. We sin because we fail. We fail because we are weak and frail humans whose flesh is inclined to sin.

Hypocrisy and failure are two very different things. Hypocrisy is when I refuse to acknowledge my sinfulness, I present myself as self-righteous, and I judge others with the same law that I do not keep. When we gossip about the failings of others our stench is a thousand times greater in the nostrils of the Lord than the poor soul who failed. We stand and point fingers accusing others of sin when we ourselves have a beam in our own eye.

Lest we think too highly of ourselves remember that gluttony, idolatry, stealing tithe, and self-centeredness (or pride) are all sin. Are we willing to judge ourselves as we judge the actions of others? There is a tension of judging ourselves and others in love. We must be humble but not passive.

So here is the question… Can a Christian be an adulterer? I guess I would ask how many of us are adulterous toward the Lord on a regular basis. We regularly place idols above him, and pursue them relentlessly. Is this better or worse than adultery in our marriage?

I’m not making excuse or room for sin here. What I’m pointing out rather is that we are all damnable and ought to burn in hell for the transgressions we commit every single day. It is only in Jesus Christ that we live and move and have our being. It is only with Jesus Christ that everything is possible. We love the pride endearing and ego boosting sermons telling us how good and righteous we are.

Truth is I have nothing…I am nothing…aside from Jesus Christ and His Grace towards me. I am undone before Him. I weep with gratitude at his love for me. And, yes, I shamefully and wickedly sin against Him. My sin drives me to my knees in humility. It drives me back to the cross and it shows me just how helpless I am.

Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thank God Almighty…it is Jesus Christ the righteous. When I look at others who are committing sins which I am not…instead of pointing my finger and taunting them…I must say “there…but for the grace of God…go I.”

Ride on victoriously in your majesty for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awe-inspiring things.
(Psa 45:4)

Frederick the Pius

In February 1559 Otto Henry, Elector of Palatinate died, and with his death the world would change. Otto Henry was a devout Roman Catholic, but his brother, Frederick III had become a protestant and supporter of the Reformation. Frederick had married Maria of Brandenberg who was protestant from age 17, and she asked him to read the Bible as a condition of their marriage. As always happens when people read the Bible without preconceptions, Frederick came to embrace the Reformed Faith. After his brother Otto’s death, Frederick became the Elector of Palatinate, and he quickly used his position to build a solidly Reformed University and attracted Reformed teachers and preachers from all over Europe. Frederick (later known as Frederick the Pius) commissioned the writing of the Heidelberg Catechism which was subsequently adopted by the Synod of Heidelberg. It has since become the defining document of the Reformed Faith.

The entire Heidelberg Catechism can be summed up in the Lord’s Day 23, Question 60:

Question 60. How are thou righteous before God?

Answer: Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.

My faith can be summed up in this statement. I am humbled. I am thankful. I am totally dependent upon the Lord. I praise the Lord for so graciously giving me a believing heart.

The Daydreamer

There comes a point in everyone's life when they realize that the hopes and dreams that they once had are not realistic. This is when the man realizes that he doesn't know who he is. His dreams have clouded his vision and have become his progress. In order to mature, he must realize that his dreams have been worthless, and he must begin making reality.

Too many men spend their whole life dreaming of their great deeds to come. Too many dream of making it in business or in the arts or some other area...they never put one foot in front of the other and start actually making something. Could Tolkien have ever written the Lord of the Rings without actually sitting down and writing?

I’m not writing about suppressing our dreams, visions and ambitions, but I am writing about doing something about them. The Proverbs are full of statements about lazy people…and this is what we’re talking about aren’t we? Men who daydream and don’t put hard work to the idea.

Proverbs says that the lazy man thinks he’s wiser than seven men who give a sensible answer. He has an incredible desire for wealth, fame or notoriety, but he’s unwilling to focus and pursue this with tenacious devotion. He has a myriad of reasons for his never ending failure to achieve, but they never involve his own laziness. Proverbs says that a hard working man will gain wealth, but a lazy man destroys it.

The point is that I’ve had a lot of things that I’ve done, and a lot of things that I’d like to do. I need to pursue and focus on exactly what I am to pursue with tenacity. We need to examine ourselves under a hard eye. I am the daydreamer….

Who You Following?

I’ve had several people in the last couple of weeks express their disappointment in people who leave a church after a certain pastor leaves. We’ve all seen it, and it’s happened in numerous churches. But, I have a problem with the comments against these people. The comments tend to actually adroitly and underhandedly question their salvation. Things like, “It concerns me when people follow a man rather than Christ” are disappointing to me.

The truth is that God works through men. Paul told the people, “follow me as I follow Christ.” And, the Bible is full of God raising up men as leaders of the people and the people as sheep following them. Elijah, Samuel, Moses, Joshua, Peter, Paul, and on and on and on. God doesn’t anoint an institution or a system. He anoints men, and His sheep follow then.

The institutions that we build (or rather that the Lord builds through us) mean nothing to Him. He will care for His sheep by anointing the man he wishes. And, He raises up and lowers men and institutions as he wills.

I guess the bottom line is that I’m less willing to create the either/or straw man of either following Christ or following man. I’m seeing more and more that we follow Christ and follow men.

I should note that part of this understanding comes from the Lords clear direction to me to come to the Three Rivers CRC and follow Pastor Tim Raakman. I’ve no idea what would happen if Tim left, but right now I’m to follow him as he follows Christ.

Pupose of Life [or Ownership]

The purpose of anything must be determined by the owner of the thing. In America we tend to accept the philosophy of self ownership. This immediately leads to us defining our own purpose for life.

Sunday school today was about how the purpose of our lives is not determined by ourselves, but rather it is determined by God who created us for himself...He owns us. The Bible says that the Earth is the Lord's and all who dwell therein. It is completely up to him to appoint some as vessles of honor and some as humble vessles. He owns each and every moment of our lives...lives which themselves belong to Him.

The bedrock value of the modern America is self determination. We are dedicated to preserving our right to self determination. We want to choose everything and we want to be whatever we decide. We train children early that they can be whatever they determine they want. Our consumer mentality of choices and making the choices we prefer solely because we prefer it is key to understanding modern America.

This carries over into the church. I am not Roman Catholic for one reason. With the Council of Trent, the Roman church no longer preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. The question at Trent was whether good works were necessary for salvation or whether they followed salvation. The Roman church said they were necessary for salvation.

The problem today is that the vast majority of evangelical church preach that same false gospel. They preach that we must weigh the information in our non-prejudiced minds and make a choice. One Missionary Church I often pass recently had a sign reading,"Christians aren't born...they choose." The evangelical churches are preaching that we are saved by grace through faith and enacted by our choice. Everything rides on our doing something.

The Bible is clear that the Lord chooses whom He wills. It isn't our choice or our acceptance...He chooses effectually. His choices are without denial. He is God, and it must be so.

I guess I'm saying that if I wasn't in a Reformed Church then I'd just become Roman Catholic instead of all the other Romanized, Americanized nonsense out there.

The Funeral [or "Family Time"]

On Friday I attended the funeral for Tina, the lady mentioned a couple of posts ago. I was amazed at how many people showed up, but that's often the case when a younger person passes away.

I thought the service was exactly what was needed at that time. Pastor Tim is growing in his own, and he seems to be finding his particular voice. Truth be told, I feel like every sermon I hear seems to propel him down that road. He'll continue to grow in confidence as he gains experience.

Sorry. I didn't mean to write this about the pastor. I was actually impressed by the way the church came out almost in total to support these people. For the very first time I actually felt like I was part of a body. As is the case in most churches, we could stand to increase that "bodiness" at the Three Rivers CRC . I want to make clear that I'm writing this as a positive thing. I'm saying,"Hey, let's do more to increase our fellowship and our love for one another."

It felt good to sit in the middle of a rather large group from TRCRC, and I'd like to feel like that more often. Probably it'll take time and interaction on my part. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm a member of the church. I just long for a church "family." There were times in the past when I'd rather celebrate holidays with my church family than with my blood family, and I want to feel that way again.

I'm really beginning to feel that love for one another that the body of Christ is all about. I really appreciate that.

ADDITION: I just want to note that today I felt like a family at church. We participated in Sunday School, and we had a great time of fellowship afterwards. I really appreciate the church family...I thought the service was excellent today as well.

Welfare Mentality

Have you observed the subtle shift in public opinion that’s taking place right now?

We’re shifting from compassion and openhearted handouts to the New Orleans area victims of the hurricane to a resenting and a harder questioning and analytical evaluative temperament.

Why is this happening? I believe the “Gimmee! Gimmee, now!” attitude of many of the people from New Orleans that I’ve seen on the news has been a contributing factor. Eventually, everyone gets tired of the demands made on their charity and goodwill. I think Ray Nagen, the half-wit mayor of New Orleans, and the man who has done more than any other to contribute to the problems experienced there, has exemplified this more than any other. His criticisms of everyone else and his dismissals of criticism of his own role in the catastrophe has done much to polarize the country.

I should note that it was Ray Nagen who disregarded all the plans and told people to head to the Superdome while he left the buses parked. Now the Superdome will probably be demolished not for structural problems but because it’s a massive manure and trash pit. He also sent people to the convention center. FEMA and the other agencies had no idea that this was going to happen because it was contrary to all plans, and it turns out that Nagen never even called anyone for almost two days after the hurricane.

Another factor? My father just returned from Mississippi (he took time off to transport a camper for FEMA) where the people initially turned FEMA out and took care of things themselves. FEMA’s first action in Mississippi was to shut down the private contractors in case they’d try to price gouge. The people rebelled and actually threw the FEMA reps out of certain communities. There is certainly a difference of mindset between the two areas.

As one person told me:

“The problem I have with the people in New Orleans sitting around waiting for the government and for handouts to give them what they want is that the day before the hurricane they were sitting on their porches doing the same thing.”

I’m not saying that this is right or wrong, but I am saying the shift is going on. It’ll be interesting to see the end result of all this. It will also be interesting to see the reports of fraud in the coming years.

I Wanna Be a Good Man

The world seems to be full of gray. Black and white is a long lost ideal that can never be recovered. The world is now a pragmatist’s world, and the mascot for mankind is Bill Clinton. There are those who would have us believe that every situation is governed by nuance and we should just do whatever seems most advantageous at the time in whatever situation we find ourselves in.

Sometimes the decisions and situations that seem as though they'd be the hardest end up being rather simple when we boil everything down to the basics. Last week, I wrote the five principles that I wanted to guide my life from here on out. I want to have these 5 characteristics be the five things people will remember about me at my funeral. The principles are listed below...but the point is that I've taken actions and made decisions that I never imagined I could. And it was simple and easy. Some things still are black and white. You just need to boil it down and ignore the distractions.

The world today isn’t full of gray. It’s full of distractions. It isn’t the intellectuals that the forces of evil fear. It’s us simpletons who boil everything down to the basics and see the truth for what it is.

Live your life simple, and examine it on a regular basis.

I want to live life:
1. Honestly
2. Sveltely
3. Faithfully
4. Financially soudly
5. Loving my neighbor as myself
Note: I abbreviated these for public consumption

The Sovereign God

"Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”
(Mat 10:29)

My faith in a sovereign being who rules and reigns over the whole earth and everything in it was strengthened these last couple days.

Our church welcomed six new believers as they professed their faith in Jesus Christ before the church. After the service the entire church retired to a park and had baptisms in the river.

The next day one of the women, who I hadn't met before Sunday, was sitting on a picnic table in front of her apartment when she was hit in the head by a random, stray bullet. She went home to be with her savior.

Our God reigns. He is sovereign even over you and I, and He has no need whatsoever...even for my consent in anything. He knows the end of each thing even from the beginning of time. Calling Him my master isn't an assertion, a profession or a expression of faith...it is simply a confession that all men should make.

News article: http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-15/112671126428470.xml&coll=7

Love Stinks

I don't love God.

That's the realization I had tonight as I was going through a sort of personal evaluation of my life. Oh, I want to be faithful. I am truly grateful for all He's done, but I'm don't think I've ever had a real love for Him. I'm not in some kind of self-loathing funk right now. I'm just thinking about my relationship with Jehovah.

The greatest command is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart..." and I don't think that I've ever kept that commandment. Thank God it's christ's righteousness and not our own that saves us.

For starters on this God says that if we love Him we'll keep His commandments. I have greviously sinned, and I continue to sin daily. My flesh condemns me. Secondly, I don't feel like I love the Lord. I fear Him. I stand in awe. I respect Him and his power. I'm not saying that I don't emotionally love him. I don't unemotionally love him. I guess if I loved Him it wouldn't be such a struggle to find the time and the will to pray and read His word to us. If I loved Him I'd be more apt to go around bragging on Him and making others feel jealous.

I guess I feel more like an indentured servant than a child. I know that's wrong, but how does one change something like that? I'll need to work on that this week.

Food for thought: the opposite of love is not hate...it's apathy.

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On another note. About 2 weeks ago I injured my back, and it's been getting nothing but worse. I was in continual and progressively worse pain. Several days ago, I finally prayed for the Lord to heal whatever the problem was, and since that point it has gradually yet rapidly decreased to the point where I no longer even notice. I give credit to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever!

Expectations: An Unfocused Post

The anticipation of the thing is often greater than the thing itself.

I wanted an HP Jornada hand held for years, and I finally bought a remanufactured one from Tiger Direct for $99. Every day of the 12 that it took to get the handheld computer was an additional piquing of my anticipation until I was frothing for it on the day it arrived. The poor UPS man must have thought I was nuts.

Now I'm typing on my new Jornada 680e, and it's ok. Not thrilling. Not exciting. It's just ok.

That's great compared to some situations. I've bought 2 steering shafts now for my jeep (a 1977 CJ5), and I awaited each one with a growing eagerness. Each time I went straight home to put it on after work, and each time I was sorely disappointed. Neither shaft fit.

I guess everything is that way. Sin participated is usually more mundane than sin anticipated. Even the positives are usually letdowns. The special church service last week at the Three Rivers CRC was everything it was billed as, but it just wasn't quite what I'd anticipated.

Roy Williams, a marketing consultant, says that the key to growing a successful business is exceeding the expectations on the customer. If we pay for a $10 meal and got $30 service we'll be back with friends. Of course, expectations go up very easily and come down with great difficulty. Expectations for others that is!

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UPDATE: I realized later that part of this post could be taken wrong. To clarify, I was disappointed at the CRC anniversary not because the service didn't go well or because of anything anyone did or didn't do. I was disappointed because I looked forward to making better friends and meeting people. I invited my parents and ended up spending time with them instead of mingling with others. So I was my own undoing....

Motivation

Comedian Emo Phillips once said, “I used to believe that the brain was the most magnificent part of the human body…then I realized…Well, look who’s telling me that!”

God says something similar to Emo in Jeremiah 17.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jer 17:9)

Lately I’ve contemplated the heart and the motivations of the heart. Why do I do the things I do? Actually, the real question that I’ve wrestled with is, “Is it possible for me to do anything with a pure heart?”

Seemingly without exception, I eventually find hedonistic reasons behind my preferences, my actions, my passions and even my loves. Even while I may start out thinking my actions are altruistic and pure, I eventually discover the hidden personal ambition or personal desire.

The harder I try to be pure, the deeper I find my baseness. Why do make the choices that I do with my life? Why do I spend time with the people I choose to? Why do I love my wife? Why do I serve the Lord?

I don’t have any purity in me. My only purity is the same as my only righteousness. It is Jesus Christ. God chose me. Christ died for me. I was imputed with faith in Christ. I was imputed with his righteousness and his purity. For that I am forever grateful.

Sometimes I think that I can be too introspective. Martin Luther suffered from intense introspection until the revelation of Romans 1:17 was fully manifest to him. The just shall live by faith. They don’t live by what they do or how good they are. They don’t live by how pure they are. They live by faith, and Ephesians says that that faith is simply a gift from God.

Martin Luther once said that a Christian should, “sin boldly, yet more boldly still believe.” I pray that I can live boldly and believe more boldly still.

Let's have a greater appreciation for what it really says rather than the doctrines of man. 

Poor Theology Gone Bad

Eph 4:11-12 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

This post is an example of what happens when we interpret scripture with little or no education, a total lack of appreciation for the original languages, and even poor English grammar.

What if we were to read the above scripture to say that it was the pastor and teacher’s responsibility to perfect the saints in order for the saints to do the work of ministry? We could build a theology that would guilt uncalled people into trying to minister to others and have them feel even guiltier when it’s evident that they’re not called. We could build a theology that has the clergy rest on their laurels and point fingers at the saints when the church isn’t growing as it should. We could create an even greater schism between clergy and laity even while we profess that there really is no difference.

What does the passage say? Virtually every substantial English translation is written grammatically (as the KJV above is) to say that God gives some…for the perfecting of the saints and for the work of ministry (or “to serve” in the Greek) and to edify the body of Christ. That’s why the translators put commas in the text. It would be something all together different if the text read:

Eph 4:11-12 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (12) For the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ:

One of our Valley irrigation systems...taking dominion over the earth. 

Where Am I Now

Here I am. I left the pastorate, and struck out for the cut throat business world. I have pondered why I left over and over questioning my motives again and again. I am going to be perfectly honest, transparent and hopefully fair as I explain why I left.

1. I became scared because I recognized that I was getting fat and lazy. I had obviously figured out how to use minimal effort to maintain things, and I was really frightened. I know one person who is deathly afraid of ever being fat. I’m deathly afraid of ever being lazy (I’m already fat). I’ve worked harder these last three months than I’ve worked in 10 years, and I’m down to the last notch on my belt. My pants are still loose, so I’ll have to cut more holes.

I actually looked at others in the ministry who I would consider lazy, and then I evaluated myself. That’s when I realized just how lazy I was. I wanted to see if I could make it in the make it or break it world. I’m working hard.

2. I became fed up with poor doctrine. I am a Calvinist. I embrace Reformed Theology as the one true soteriology. The bottom line is that God has chosen me…not that I have chosen Him. Total Depravity. Unconditional Election. Limited Atonement. Irresistable Grace. And Perseverance of the Saints…are all undeniably true. It is a farce to say that God’s predestination could possibly be thwarted. I grew weary of dancing around the issue, and I grew weary of those who would boldly show their ignorance by accusing Calvin of the most asinine things. Now, I am a member of the Three Rivers Christian Reformed Church, and I can boldly wear my theology on my sleeve.

3. I wholeheartedly reject the traditions of the “holiness” faction of the church. This is that faction that equates good Christianity with no drinking, no smoking, no cussing and being nice. Of course, this belies the fact that some of the greatest saints who have gone before us drank, smoked, cussed, and weren’t very nice at times. I think Paul summed up my argument on this the best in Colossians:

Col 2:16-23 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: (17) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (18) Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, (19) And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (20) Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (21) (Touch not; taste not; handle not; (22) Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? (23) Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

So, why are we following the doctrines of men, and standards that are based in worldly ordinances? As a minister in the denomination that I was a part of, I was required to judge members based on what they drank…in direct violation of this scripture. I became more and more uncomfortable over time as I saw just how irrelevant a glass of wine or a can of beer really is.

So, I took the opportunity and left. Now, I can say what I want with relative impunity. I feel liberated. I pray that the Lord will keep his hand upon my all my days.

Change

Change is good…right? Today is my last day functioning as a pastor. I am leaving to work at MAISCO (Michianna Agricultural Irrigation Sales Company) located just south of the Indiana line near Middlebury. There are long term possibilities at MAISCO that I am sincerely looking forward to.

I will miss the people at Dexter Lake Church of God and the people I’ve met here in Battle Creek.


I plan to continue writing in my blog, but I can’t tell yet what the tone will take or what the topics will be.

For the record: I'm leaving on excellent terms.

This is a short entry that I wrote at the end of March 2005 but never posted.

The Lost World

The Lost World (1912) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a story about truth. What is truth? Is it what those around us believe? Is it what scientists say? Is it what our church believes? Is it what we believe?

A lost world in the middle of the Amazon is revealed to Dr. Challenger, and he returns to London with various proofs. No matter the proof, the people are unwilling to believe because they are dedicated to their own epistemologies (theory of truth). The scientists reject Challenger at every turn because what he has to say conflicts with what they think not what science has to say about the matter.

We do the same don’t we? We become dedicated to doctrines and dogmatically refuse to accept the possibility that we might be wrong because our world (the world we built in our minds) may crumble around us at any time.

Jehovah is the God of ordinary people having ordinary days in an ordinary world. 

God of the Ordinary

Why is it that we seem to need some extraordinary or unusual event to press us to the Messiah? When we hear a particularly moving testimony or a praise report of someone experiencing an unusually striking healing we may clap, shout, wave or give thanks to the Lord for his goodness.

What about all the people who don’t experience a healing from cancer? What about the true convert that Christ doesn’t release from jail? What about those who died in the car or plane crash rather than walking away without a scratch? Was God less real to them? Did they have less faith? Were they walking in some partial will of God or less than the ultimate that He had for them?

The miracle that is my breath is given to me as a gift every minute of every day that I live. At any moment God could have simply not actively desired that I exist, and I would not. The manna is laying all around us, but we’ve grown tired and accustomed to it after all these years.

Think about it as you go about your ordinary day.

Where we goin'? 

Roger l’Escrivel

I’ve been in a strange mood the last month or two, and the best way I can relate it is to mention a book I’m currently reading. A Booke of Days by Stephen J. Rivele is the translation (with some improvement on the text) of the journal of Roger l’Escrivel, one of the leaders of the first crusade in 1096.

During the course of the crusade, the writer is disappointed by men around him, disappointed by himself, and disappointed by his circumstances. He wasn’t devastated or angry or bitter…just disappointed.

Roger l’Escrivel also found the cause that brought meaning to his life, the cause that gave him hope, the cause that seemed so profound at one time…lost its luster as it grew familiar. He began to see the edges, and he began to see the flaws. Shortly into his journey, he found himself merely along for the ride.

Sometimes when we feel directionless, purposeless, and disappointed the best thing to do is just keep riding in the direction you were last pointed.

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On another (totally unrelated note) I am excited that a couple of weeks ago I bought shares of Lexar, a technology company that makes flash media. Today they won their lawsuit against Toshiba who stole trade secrets from Lexar. Also, check out Renal Care Group (RCI)...thousands of people are alive in this country only by dialysis.

Voltaire 

Leibniz 

Voltaire’s Candide

I just finished Voltaire’s classic Candide, and it has challenged some thinking while cementing some ever more solidly. Voltaire, actually named Francois-Marie Arouet, wrote Candide in 1759 as an indictment of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and his metaphysical ideas. Voltaire’s hatred of Leibniz and his ideas was likely rooted in the contrast of Leibniz’s faithful devotion to Christ versus Voltaire’s humanist, anti-christ philosophies. Voltaire was a precursor of all that France became with the virtual collapse of the church, the humanist revolution, and the continuing godlessness.

Candide is a naïve man who ends up traveling the world as he is subjected to one horrible circumstance and act after another. Along the way he meets a stream of people who have been beaten down and trodden on by society, and they even have contests occasionally to see who is the more wretched.

Voltaire is trying to show that the world is a horrible place with random violence, disease and corruption, and that if there was a God he would have to be sadistic to have even created such a thing as human beings. This is in contrast to Leibniz who said that the world could not be perfect because it would therefore not be distinct from God, but that the world is as good as can be without being perfect. Leibniz argued that although we may not see it, every disaster, every unpleasant thing that may befall us, every disappointment is working out God’s goodness in some way.

Voltaire ends the book with the only happy man in the entire tome. The man works hard at what is set before him (tending a garden) because it keeps him from the three evils: boredom, vice and want. The man doesn’t spend his time questioning and arguing over life, but he simply submits to his state and makes the best of it. Eventually, Candide sees the wisdom in this and ends the book by responding to a philosophical remark with “but, we must tend our garden.”

Voltaire pointed out that the only way to judge one’s misery is to find out what he values most. I agree. If I value my possessions above all else, my poverty would be my misery. If I value my health above all else, my illness would be my misery. But if I value my God above all else, how can I be miserable in any condition? Voltaire proves the point even as he misses the point. Nothing on this earth, where moths corrupt and thieves break in to steal, should be valued as God.

You may be able to take my pencil…but try taking my salvation.

A modern "alley" or slum neighborhood in Egypt 

Judgment is Death

Today, I finished Children of the Alley by Naguib Mahfouz.

There were two specific things that I took from the story. First, evil is like darkness. It is always present and immediately able to fill the void when light or goodness fails. No training, little time, and no practice are needed in order to have a moral vacuum filled with evil. Unlike the way cold slowly creeps in when heat is removed, evil immediately fills a void the way darkness fills a room when the light is put out.

Second, goodness or progress is made possible only by the extreme effort of strong men or women. Justice and goodness can never be built in to a system or an organization; rather, it must be taught to the young. When we entrust a system, we have a tendency to not train our children, and the system quickly degenerates.

Finally, a last bit of wisdom from Mahfouz ---- Rumor is truth. Truth is Judgment. Judgment is death.

Naguib Mahfouz...Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 

Children of the Alley

Naguib Mahfouz (of Egypt) is one of my favorite authors, mainly, I think, for his intergenerational approach to storytelling. I am currently finishing his Children of the Alley in which he traverses something like 10 generations as he retells the story of humanity from a decidedly Egyptian local perspective. Michener and Uris do some of the same in their works.

I am keenly aware of the importance of raising godly children and the fact that each of these generations leaves only their children and their children’s values behind them, and these intergenerational stories subtly emphasize this point no matter who writes them.

My wife and I have no children of our own nor can we have any of our own. Before I get 100 responses telling me to wear boxers and telling us to relax, I should explain. First, our “complications” are not that simple. Second, we chose long ago (we knew this well before we married) to accept whatever hand we were dealt in life trusting that God had a design for our life. We chose to submit rather than spend all of our time, emotions, and passions fighting for what we want. I’m not saying that those who choose otherwise are wrong just that this is what we’ve chosen.

It could be that this is why I’m a pastor and Jennifer is a kindergarten teacher. Jennifer treats her students as her own children. I think part of the reason is that she doesn’t have the stress of going home to take care of her own kids after school. We are also very free to follow where ever the Lord leads. I don’t have to worry about even leaving an inheritance. We could move across the country tomorrow upon the Lord’s command with little implication.

I should note that there is D’Montiz. He lives with his great-grandma, and has been “hanging out” with us for about a year and a half. He says we treat him like a son, and sometimes I feel like that. Sometimes I wonder what I’m leaving in him for the future. It is also painful to be that close to a 10 year old, but not be able to actually call him your son. You always have to be ready for him to be gone from your life.

In closing, there are two tendencies that being childless create. First, I tend to despise the taking of children for granted and not spend time with them or especially putting them in daycare. Second, I tend to be very sensitive to how children are raised, what they are taught and how they are disciplined. I look at families, and think about how different I would feel if I were in their situation. It is the lack of the child that shows just how much more important the children are.

The truth is that if I had children, I’d probably be much more casual about this topic, but all I can do is know and understand that I haven’t walked in the shoes of the parent.

Dental Floss -- The Joe Graber Way! 

Flossing Can Change Your Life (As an update to the immediately preceding post)

I went to the dentist today for my semiannual torture session. Judy, the hygienist, marveled at how great my teeth looked. She said she only found one area of build up. The dentist said everything looked great and to keep up the good work. I told Judy that I have never heard that from a dentist before. Actually, for the first time in my life, I had brushed my teeth every day and flossed every day between visits.

Later, I wondered about what made me change and begin flossing my teeth. What was it that really led to my change of action? For some reason, I’ve begun to care, but I can’t put a finger on the decision or the point at which I knew that I’d become a militant flosser.

I feel myself changing in other areas, but I’m not sure what to make of it. Maybe it’s aging. Maybe it’s the work of the Lord in my life. Maybe it’s just that I’m wearing down. I’m not sure.

Flannery O'Conner, probably the greatest American writer ever. 

Physician…heal thyself?

I’ve been haunted this last week with the question of my own ability to change those things that I hate about my own life.

I have looked into the lives of a number of struggling people, and I see the repetition of sin, bad choices, the need for personal gratification, the lack of real commitment to make real change, the exchange of resolve with rhetoric, and the morphine of starting over again and again and again. I was complaining to God about the lack of true grit in the people.

His response to me was typical. He immediately brought to my attention three pits of destruction in my life. He asked what I had done to resolve these three areas of sin, lack of discipline, bad choices, and lack of commitment. He said that I’ve talked about….

I have been reading Flannery O’Conner’s The Violent Bear It Away, and in the book, Tarwater is unable to escape the driving downfalls in his life. He fights with all that is in him to overcome his condition, but he is unable to alter the life that he lives. It is a story of shocking failure. It is a story that makes us feel smaller. Every step along the way, Tarwater regrets his condition and his actions…just like I do…

Regret is not repentance.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson Understood Idolatry and Its Dangers 

Less can be More

Shishak took the temple treasures from Rehoboam. He took all the gold ornaments and especially the gold shields used by the guards. Rehoboam responded quickly and decisively. He had bronze shields made to keep up the appearances. In fact, the bronze shields were stored away for safe keeping unless their bright bronze shields presenting them to the king. As he left, they hurriedly returned them safely to their storage room.

God knows what his children can handle and how faithful they will be with different things. For instance, I would not be faithful with a million dollars at this point; therefore, I don’t have it. Is that a blessing or a curse?

Rehoboam was not strong enough to be faithful with a gold ordained temple, and the Lord saw to it that he didn’t have to be. Rehoboam was exceptionally faithful with a bronze ordained temple, and God blessed the nation with peace for nearly his entire reign.

I know that I would make a god out of television; so, I don’t have one. I would make a god out of nice cars; so, I don’t drive a car that I can’t walk away from at any time. Wouldn’t it make sense that God would care for us in that way as well?

Thomas Jonathan Jackson, (i.e., Stonewall Jackson) once said that he didn’t use tobacco in any form. Why? He found that he liked it too much.

Minimum Wage

Sorry, but I forgot about the Governor's minimum wage proposal. Instead of raising the minimum wage to $7.15 an hour let's raise it to $100 an hour and it will take care of all our problems. Of course, it will cost $40 for a loaf of bread and $500 a month for cable, but who cares.

The minimum wage paid in society is and will always be strickly a matter of economics. The relation of wages to prices will never be influenced by government mandated wage increases. Government can manadate wages, but prices will just follow.

The truth is that by increasing minimum wage we actually increase the gap between the wealthiest wage earners and the poorest wage earners...but we'll leave that for a later expose'.

The wisdom of this world. 

The World is Run by Idiots

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I once worked in the Michigan legislature. The first thing I learned when I went there was that the little protective halo that I had, the idea that someone somewhere actually knew what was going on, was a false halo and false assumption on my part. Let me examine a couple of ideas in Governor Granholm’s speech last night.

First, she wants to amend the constitution in order to borrow $2 billion from our children to invest in research. She says that she’ll create 72,000 jobs by investing the $2,000,000,000. So the state will be paying approximately $54,000 per job after finance costs. All this proposal does is create a welfare program for college grads. And the best part? Our children and grandchildren get to pay for jobs long since gone with the wind.

Second, the Governor is perpetuating the myth that the major impediment to college is financial. I know absolutely destitute, poverty stricken people who are able to go to college (through grants and loans). I know of single mothers who are able to attend. When I was at the University of Michigan getting my MBA (which I paid every single dollar of), there was a single mom in the program. She ended up dropping out. Not for financial reasons mind you. By her own account, she would stay up all not instant messaging on AOL and therefore not get her work done. The problem has to do with what is inside of people not how much money they have, and $1,500 more for college isn’t going to make a difference.

Third, she wants to quick train people in various professions which have a high demand right now. Now, I can tell you that I really don’t want the unemployed person who can’t hold down a job at Burger King working an IV into my arm at the hospital. It is a generalization I know, but she generalized as well. In general, the unemployed right now are unemployed for a reason. And its not because their so clever. So, the Governor is going to make them nurses and construction workers. They have been unfaithful with a little so she’s going to make them ruler over much (pardon the Biblical allusion).

It is amazing how clever they think they are, but most of these politician are second rate, half-wits at best.

Well, that’s my first “political” rant on this blog. It was a long time coming, and I’ll try not to bore you again with one for a long time. It’s just that when someone starts picking my pocket, especially for hair-brained schemes, I get a little agitated.

Sometimes we are caricatures of ourselves.