I like ampersands. I know – I’m probably behind on this trendy little piece of typographical genius, but I really do like how they look and what they do. Ampersands connect things. There’s even a blog dedicated to finding one for each day of the year: 300&65 Ampersands.
Anyway, since I’ve been away for awhile, you can imagine the backlog of links and suggestions I have! I’ll try to not overwhelm you … but I’m going to start publishing them under the “this & that” tag, so you can search ’em all if you like.
I appreciate Makoto Fujimara so much for his art, but also for his boldness in suggesting art and Christianity can very much be topics in the same conversation (in fact, should be). Here is a recent clip for Qideas where he talks about Beauty and Culture.
The Justice Conference has got some crazy big names all over it. What do you think about this buzzwordy gathering?
My friend Jace Yarbrough just starting writing over at Humane Pursuits and I’m sure you’ll appreciate his bright mind as you read through his thoughts on work in his article, “Work, Part I: In Defense of Brass Polishing”
Generous Justice – an idea from a guy I really admire (Tim Keller) – was one of the post-conference topics at the Gospel Coalition this year. I think he hits on a pretty difficult dichotomy we’ve created within Christianity today. Watch this video where he explains.
I’m a fan of this list that reminds us about what is done (indicatives) and what there is to do (imperatives) from Galatians. Take a look and be refreshed and motivated!Well, there’s that – now throw some this & that my way from your own reserves!
I think I like ampersands because something has got to come after every one.
What an absolutely GORGEOUS day! It looks like fall and feels like summer – which is the perfect combination for the Honduran in me.
The sunshine is throwing love on this day like confetti on New Year’s Eve and I’m not going to be bashful about basking in it. Maybe it’s also the sunshine that has me considering some deeper things today. Well, that, and John Wesley‘s ideas about sanctification and Christian perfection. When I got back from Honduras, I was surprised at the amount of books I still had lined up on a bookshelf in my parents’ house. Among others that are waiting for me on the “to read” list, I found this little gem (re-packaged by Relevant Books).
So… today I’m considering what he proposed – that our default impulses could be holy rather than rebellious. When God makes us new creatures through the sacrifice of His Son, we become “holy as He is holy” … so does that mean God triumphs over every bit of our heart and mind while we are still here on earth?
I know there is more to process about this, but meanwhile (or maybe while I do) this song is a beautiful anthem. I love that amen is a declaration of affirmation. And I love that this song affirms the Truth that is home to me – the place I can crawl inside and find rest. List to Amen, Amen by the good people at Sojourn Music.
Okay, I’m barely holding my eyelids high enough to peek through… but I wanted to jot down a few thoughts and some links. My friend John always pokes fun at me for the amount of tabs I leave open on my computer. I reason that I can’t close the tabs until I’ve dealt with them. Sometimes that means I just read the article and other times it means I post it or respond to it. Anyway… at this moment I have 9 tabs open in Google Chrome.
chocolate chip cookie dough chocolate cupcakes
First, I have to just take a moment to be sad about today being the last Tuesday I get to celebrate my little “taste and see” experiment with the seniors. I desperately want them to know how sweet the Word is! Today, if they told me their favorite verse and why, they got to choose a treat with a HIDDEN treasure: chocolate cupcake with chocolate chip cookie dough inside or a cake cookie with chocolate chip cookie dough inside. The process was about 4 hours long (and Hilda helped me out for the first half!), but the result was pretty delicious… and their responses were the sweetest part! Here are some of their favorite verses: Deuteronomy 6:5, Philippians 4:13, Zephaniah 3:17, Proverbs 31, Jeremiah 29:11, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Matthew 7, Luke 10:25-37, Galatians 5:20, James 1:12, John 3:16, Psalm 2:7-8, Proverbs 12:4, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 23.
So, the whole idea was that inside the treat was a HIDDEN treasure. It looks sweet on the outside, but you can’t even IMAGINE the sweetness on the inside! I only have THREE more days with the seniors before they say Adios to high school. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.
In other news… I’m going to make a little list-love here to get rid of a few tabs up top.
Bell Rings True is an article written by author David Dark (Sacredness of Questioning Everything) that examines Rob Bell’s book Love Wins and takes a different angle than many reviews I’ve read. I like to think I appreciate the whole picture and this is one article that helps me try to step back a few paces to see the landscape view. I may not change my mind, but I’m glad for reading it.
Saving Leonardo is a book review of Nancy Pearcey‘s Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals and Meaning. Let’s just say the intersection of history, art, and culture are enough to reel me in… but then you add the Secular/Christian dynamic and I am caught! This is on my reading list!
Five Thoughts on Worship is an article by Kevin DeYoung about the theology of worship. After experiencing different denominations, cultures, and styles, I have started to grip even tighter the ways God has defined worship for us. He desires for us to worship in Spirit and in Truth and He has not hid those ways from us. DeYoung references David Peterson’s five helpful points in understanding corporate worship, from his book Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship.
What is Heaven Like by Jared Wilson, over at the Resurgence, didn’t have a hard time convincing me to read. I LOVE to think/talk/dream/pray about heaven. I don’t think we have as many discussions as we ought about the place we are destined for eternity.
The Veneer of Media is another article in the series from Q ideas based on the book Veneer. There are many things in this article to ponder, not the least of which is our response to the article’s assertions.
My eyes are getting heavier by the second! I should go before I start talking gibberish!
don’t forget to
let LOVE fly like cRaZy
because Christ is the HIDDEN treasure!
What will become of the library? This article by author and social change expert Seth Godin helps us navigate the evolving landscape of information systems. It’s not as “doomsday” as I thought… actually there is much hope for the library, if we understand and value the unique need it fills.
As long as we’re talking about books, check out this survey Tim Challies posted on his blog. The results are more than surprising… and worth a look. Here’s a sneak peek:
This article from the Gospel Coalition, “Making All Things New (Not all New Things)” by Pastor Tullian is such an encouragement. I can never be reminded of this too often.
I love this article, “The Sorting Table,” from the Curator about the grape harvest in Australia, even though sadness hangs over it like a blanket. It reminds me of my reflection about time inevitable march forward.
This article, “God of the Impossible,” from the Gospel Coalition is finally an example of what I’ve been trying to explain. Everyone takes in theology everyday. Maybe we don’t call it that and maybe we do, but the point is: we choose to expose our minds to certain beliefs, which in turn form a foundation on which to believe or filter everything else. There is no “throw away” knowledge. Every action has a reaction and every thought triggers another thought. The author, David Schrock, was persuaded by the first theologian who found a place on his night stand. For some people, the first theologian is Kierkegaard, others Donald Miller, and still others Martin Lloyd-Jones. What I love about this article is the beautiful reminder that theology is the study of God and we must remember that He is sovereign. I firmly believe that what we decide to think about, read, believe, discuss influences our theology… but I also believe God is sovereign and working in the midst of our human decisions. I praise God for that!
So, there’s a guy predicting the world will end on Saturday. This is Cal Thomas’s response in World Magazine.
Here is a great video from John Piper on Jesus’ strategy in Samaria. Piper says this story is in the Bible to encourage us in our pluralistic society.
I don’t know how to talk about these days. I only know God is present and moving and working and I am THRILLED … beyond THRILLED to watch. When I need to kick an attitude or some sadness, I just think about the ONE thing that trumps all other things in order of importance. I think about how everything struggles to pull that ONE thing away from its place of greatest importance.
Basically, I’m diving straight into this last phase with “HOLD NOTHING BACK” mentality. Jesus is too important and I love these kids too much. The results make me ask why I’ve been with any other mentality ever.
While I’m trying to figure these things out, here are some things to read:
This is an interesting series in Q about arts and entertainment and how culture has/is shaping what we make of it. Veneer of Arts and Entertainment
I think this is a timely and helpful article about loving our enemies after recent events. We are not just called to love our next door neighbors (although we have issues with that, too). We are called to straight up love our enemies. Whew!
I am becoming more and more averse to the Bible used as a moral rulebook and pastors using Jesus as a moral teacher. Check out this article from Desiring God Ministries and think on it with me.
I admit this article grabbed my attention with the words “bikini barista” in the title… but it’s totally worth a read. Wendy Alsup, who writes on this blog and also has several books, talks in the article about the struggle for independence being one of the worst consequences of our sin.
Okay, so I’ll leave you with that. I have things to read and “hold nothing back” messages to send! 🙂
As I thought over the past few days about the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection, I was tempted to stop several times because it’s just too much. It’s too much to think about how marvelous God must be to have a perfect, sovereign plan. It’s too much to figure out how many ways God set up history to reveal Christ’s glorious moment on the cross. It’s too much to understand the agony and suffering and war that must have waged in the very flesh of Christ during the final hours. It’s too much to grasp the encompassing all of Christ’s payment. It’s too much to believe that I can stand approved and righteous in front of a holy God because of Christ’s completed work and victory over the grave.
It’s too much.
I think so often we give up when it comes to understanding the Lord. We say things like, “Well, we’ll never understand anyway” or “Who are we to understand?” Sometimes it might be genuine awe of God’s greatness and sometimes it might just be laziness. What I’m realizing this week, through amazing conversations with friends and words in books and time spent with my Savior, is God’s intentionality in giving us a mind to understand. We cannot love a God we do not know. So, God gives us the ability, through our mind to become alive in our love for Him.
Regarding the command to love the Lord with all our mind, Piper says in his book Think, “loving him with all our mind means that our thinking is wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express this heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things.”
When we get lazy or distracted or discouraged, our thinking fails to engage fully, express deeply, and (most importantly) treasure God supremely. The strange thing is, the so-called shortcut is only hurting ourselves. When we choose to NOT treasure God supremely, we cannot experience the joy of all joys that flows out from this treasure!
I’m reading and processing and reading and processing. Is anyone else reading (or has read) the book Think by Piper? What are your thoughts? Here are some other things that I’ve been browsing that you might find interesting:
I’m kind of obsessed with this website: ChristianityExplored and not just because the people talk in English accents. I love that they answer hard questions and share personal stories about the power of God in their lives. If you need a little inspiration, check it out!
This quote is still so relevant today even though it was written in 1908 by G.K. Chesterton. This is pretty powerful stuff.
“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert–himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . . The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.”
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy [Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1957], pp. 31-32
let LOVE fly like cRaZy
with all your HEART, SOUL, MIND, and STRENGTH
toward the Savior
This week has made itself available for much reading and I have certainly taken advantage! I’m flipping real pages, but I can’t give you links for those. So, here’s some bits and pieces of the online variety. Enjoy!
This Holy week timeline is super helpful in figuring out the wheres and whens.
Check out this interview with Joe Thorn, author of Note to Self, on the Gospel Coalition website. Do you preach to yourself? Or do you listen to yourself? This is the question Thorn asks, in the tradition of the Puritan pastor Lloyd-Jones.
Do we really have to use a qualifier? Too often, Christians think there is art and then there is Christian art. This is more than strange because for centuries Christians or non-Christians could express themselves creatively and everyone called it art. I really appreciate this article that takes the unnecessary qualifier to task. There is no such thing as Christian art .
This article cannot be more timely after I just finished up a study on David with a friend. I love this reminder, as we look at the actions of a fearful Adonijah, “There is no need to run and hide when God has come near to us in Christ. We have been laid hold of by the one who has truly become the mercy seat. We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” Check it out at the Gospel Coalition blog, written by a guy who is pretty close to my hometown in Iowa!
So, this guy John Mark McMillan is pretty cool. Check out this Death in His Grave commentary. The explanation of this song gives even more meaning and depth to an already soul-searching musical tale. I currently have this song on replay and it’s like victory every time it plays.
Pollution has become this city’s worst allergy. The smoke and haze hovers over the mountains and seeps down in through our windows and makes my eyes itch. Today a bit of relief came in an afternoon rain. I’m still reveling in the lingering smell of it. Deep breaths are always best in the case of a good afternoon rain, so that’s what I’m doing tonight.
I’m revisiting Francis Schaeffer’s “True Spirituality” and, apart from my previous pencil marks, I could be reading it for the first time. The honesty is so fresh. I don’t mean fresh in a so-hip-and-cool-and-slightly-ambiguous way. I mean fresh like BAM! it hits you in the face. He doesn’t mess around because he truly adores the subject of his honest grappling. I wish I could say I don’t miss a beat of his rhythm, but I definitely have to read whole paragraphs over sometimes to get the full weight of it.
The funny thing is… the words Schaeffer penned in 1971 are desperately needed today in the conversation of theology and doxology and, well, the art of living. Before you even flip the page of the first chapter, you read,
“Our true guilt, that brazen heaven which stands between us and God, can be removed only upon the basis of the finished work of Christ plus nothing on our part. The Bible’s whole emphasis is that there must be no humanistic note added at any point in the accepting of the gospel. It is the infinite value of the finished work of Christ, the second person of the Trinity, upon the cross plus nothing that is the sole basis for the removal of our guilt.”
This whole plus nothing idea has always and forever will be a humbling thing for me. I have tried to make Jesus need something from me. I want to bring something before Him and hear, “Oh, yes! That is what the cross was missing! Thank you so much!” But, it’s not possible. Strange that hearing those words would mean my God is small and helpless and needy.
I wrote about a lesson in dependence while I lived in Austin… and then several months later when I realized dependence isn’t a lesson and God truly desired that I would come to Him empty handed. Salvation is Christ plus nothing. If I present anything else, I present a bold-faced lie.
In my journey of learning to believe Christ as truly sufficient, I discovered a beautiful freedom. When I say freedom, it’s hard to describe just how giddy it makes me feel.
Have you ever felt the random rush to dance? Or uncontrollable laughter bubbling up from your gut? Or maybe you have stretched out your arms as far as they could possibly go and lifted your face toward heaven to take in some crazy rays.
I desperately hope you have a picture of the kinds of things freedom brings to mind. When I truly let the reality of Christ plus nothing sink in, the excitement of freedom all but bursts out of me!
Today, with Songs of Lent as a musical backdrop, I studied the words of Isaiah 53. I wrote out every phrase and let it sink in like the rain. This description of Christ tugs at all the foolish places I hide – the places I believe my salvation is plus something. Then I listened to this message from Mbewe and turned my focus to verse 11, “out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.” After enduring the suffering of the cross, even anguishing in His sinless soul, Christ saw and was satisfied in what He accomplished. The glorious work of the cross is truly finished and I am numbered among the many whose iniquities he bore.
It’s starting to rain again.
Let LOVE fly like cRaZy, folks,
but remember the LOVE of Christ needs no addition of our own making.
Sunday morning started what I like to call the parade of palms. They hang out of windows, attach to cars, frame doors, and suffocate in the fingers of the scurrying crowd of church-goers. The triumphal and humble entry began without much pomp and circumstance here, though I did relish the louder-than-normal worship songs drifting from the streets.
As I read, write, and listen to these messages from the Gospel Coalition conference, I am making note of beautiful things. If you have a chance, take a peek or a listen and see what you think.
This is an artist I really admire and a song that has roots than run deep to the very character of God and our refuge in Him. Also check out the hymns of Isaac Watts, remade.
This sermon hit me HARD today. We are either true disciples of Christ or not disciples at all. It’s not about becoming a disciple or helping people on the way to becoming disciples. We either are or we’re not. We are either encouraging someone who is truly a disciple or we are encouraging someone is not yet a disciple at all. And how can we know if we truly are or truly are not? If we abide in the Word. I need to hear this Truth this morning! I can divide my time with books and sermons and journals and still not abide in the Word – in Christ Himself. Anyway, take a listen and treasure the invitations to abide! If You Abide In My Word, You Are Truly My Disciples.
Recently (I have no idea how… it’s a social networking story, I’m sure), I found Here’s Life ministry – an organization that is mobilizing the Church to live out God’s heart for the poor in US inner cities. You should DEFINITELY check out what they are about and what they are doing for Easter! www.hlic.org
Check out this new book… AH! So many new books to read! Here’s a book trailer for The Greener Grass Conspiracy. Sidenote: I love that books have trailers now. Why should films get all the screen love? http://vimeo.com/21402348
We must pray for our brothers and sisters in Yemen! Read up on the news here.
Okay, this is awesome to me because I am not necessarily a  “Steve Green” fan, but I can wholeheartedly agree with what he’s all about!
I just saw a few movies I would totally suggest: Walkout – a refresher in history and specifically education in the States. It’s worth a view. Also, Empire of the Sun – the Japanese occupation of China through the eyes of an English boy. I really can’t believe I hadn’t seen this classic before! Away we Go – okay, so it’s more than a bit unconventional. But, I think the film communicated how deep brokenness can be and how strong a desire to mend it through relationship. I also laughed a lot 🙂
I haven’t made mention of this during the Lenten season, but now may be the right time. Please check out LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL – an organization that is daily drilling wells all around the world in an effort to bring physical, clean water to people who have none. In the process, they offer the Living Water of the Gospel. Being a part of this special H2O project for Lent has been one where I’ve realized my tendency for things I don’t need that confuse my heart for the things I want most.
Okay. I’m back to reading. I finished a book today and hope to finish another one tonight, before or after I chase down some students. Rest is truly a gift I cannot measure. I can only hope that in this time God would fill me up to be sent and poured out once again.
Lastly, I am praying for this kind of Holy Week (Blog post taken from the Desiring God blog).
The week between Palm Sunday and Easter is not intrinsically holy, except that all time is holy, since it belongs to God. But we can make it holy by setting it apart for sacred focus.
May I encourage you to do that, for the sake of seeing more of the greatness of Christ. He reveals himself through his word. Take up his word and focus your attention on him in his last hours. Set aside some time this week to fix your gaze steadily on him as he loves you to the uttermost (John 13:1).
The passages in the Gospels that record his final hours are:
This is beautiful Chicago, where the Gospel Coalition conference happened this past week.
Last night I either had a really bad, really realistic dream… or I had some serious digestive problems. I won’t go into details (because you can still hope it was a dream) but apparently I got it all figured out in my sleep because I felt better this morning.
Today was my long run day. I say that like I’m on some kind of “plan” or something and I’m not. But, I kind of make up my own “plan” based on what I read on Runner’s World and how much my joints complain. It’s not scientific or anything, but saying it’s a “plan” makes it seem more official. Something I am realizing about 5 miles is that anything before 1 mile never feels awesome. I spend the first mile convincing myself running 5 is a good idea. Luckily, today I had Alistair Begg‘s incredible accent to accompany my steady stride.
I’m listening to all the speakers from the recent Gospel Coalition conference in Chicago you can find all the audio for FREE here but if you wait, I’m sure there will be video as well. I am impatient and convinced I’ll need to hear/see them twice anyway. I LOVE learning because it simultaneously expands my knowledge while giving me the distinct awareness that I know nothing! I know I’m not the only one thrilled about it either… so that makes me feel pretty good.
So, I’ve been listening to Keller, Mohler, Begg, Carson, Piper, and the others who were gathered in Chicago to treasure the Gospel in the Old Testament together. I just wish I could process through some of it … but I know God will provide those conversations in good time.
I have some pretty ambitious goals for books this week – I am almost too scared to write them down for fear I won’t finish. But, I will anyway: Competent to Counsel by Jay E. Adams, A King’s Cross by Tim Keller, revisit Dug Down Deep by Josh Harris, revisit Calvin (A heart for devotion, doctrine, and doxology), and chip away a bit more at the excerpts from the writings of people who influenced C.S. Lewis.
In addition, I’m going to crank out a newsletter – hopefully one that will have a special edition for the mission trip, which is a long time coming.
In the meantime, here’s a few videos you might enjoy:
I found the Jesus Storybook Bible read aloud recently and HAVE to share it! Seriously, take a minute to check it out and if you have kids, I’m sure they will love it. It’s a great way to share the story of Jesus with them this season!
Here is an amazing time-lapse video that I hope will add a bit of awe and wonder to your night/day.
and lastly, a strange tangent. Is the adage “less is more” really true? What if the whole world was edited to give a certain experience? Check out this article from a brand blog I’ve been reading lately.
alright, folks. don’t forget to
let LOVE fly like cRaZy
Tomorrow is another day of celebration! As we prepare to remember His death, it is with the beautiful knowledge that He also conquered it!
MUSINGS IN THE MIDST 