Category: culture and current events

this & that

Here’s another batch of links that wouldn’t be a waste of time (in my opinion).

  • If you’re like me, you’ve wondered a time or two if there is a way to discern what to do or not do in the next phase of your life… and what God wants you to do and how you can find that out. Well, here’s a good start. “How to know the will of God” by Tim Challies is actually part of a series that you should definitely read.
  • So, apparently the new iphone is CRAZY awesome. So much so that movies (REAL movies) are ’bout to be made with it. Check out the comparison of the new iphone with a Canon 5D MKII (a really good camera).
  • I always like to give musical suggestions and I don’t mind if you don’t share my taste. Take it or leave it, I’ve been enjoying the The Steel Wheels recently and think you might too. You can get an album for free at Noisetrade!
  • Are you into watercolor? Or maybe you just know good art when you see it? You should check out my good friend Natalie Groves. She writes a blog on the painting process and you can see some of her pieces. If you liked the movie Miss Potter, you’ll LOVE her style and stories! Here’s one of my faves:
  • If you’re getting stuck when you start thinking about what you could make for Christmas gifts, here’s a good place to start: Pinterest. Check out this list for Christmas DIY.
  • I read an article awhile back, an interview actually with Alisa Harris, author of the recent book, “Raised Right.” She grew up in a very fundamental Christian home and the book is about her journey untangling her faith from politics as she grew older. She is now married on the East Coast and still holds to her Christian values without being ultra-conservative like her parents. Of course, I haven’t read it but I would be so interested to see what she has to say.
  • This article by Paul David Tripp seems especially poignant in my current life phase. Read, “5 Reasons God Calls us to Wait” and let me know if you think the reasons are good enough to put us through the waiting ringer. 🙂
  • This link is the ultimate downer, so be prepared. The Atlantic published the article “World War II: The Holocaust” and with it a collection of photos. As hard as it is to view, it’s a reminder of human depravity and despair.
  • I don’t have children yet, but when I do they will NOT have a TV in their bedroom. “In the Danger Zone: Raising our Children in the Age of the Screen” is an article from Albert Mohler that should scare us out of the nasty habit of having the television on.
  • And last, because I want to end on a funny note, check out this Rowan Atkinson skit. It’s hilarious. Good, old fashioned comedy right there.
Happy Monday, folks!
Posted on by Caroline 2

this & that

As promised, I’m going to just blast you with links and sites and books and articles. Any and all responses/thoughts will add to the discussion already going on in my head, so thanks in advance!

  • This is a review for the film Tree of Life written by Roger Ebert. This film by Terrence Malick is undeniably spiritual and I can’t believe I still haven’t seen it. For all the reviews and trailers and background information, it’s already gained my loyalty. If you’ve seen it, what do you think? If you haven’t, will you?
  • I follow a few blogs (okay, quite a few) sporadically and I always like to look up the “about” page. Partly because I’m just a curious person and partly because looking at “normal” people making it big in the blog world makes me think I could, too. Anyway, a couple of these creative bloggers are Mormons. In addition to the massive commercial campaign to make us think Mormon is as normal as bread and butter, there was also the smash Broadway hit, “The Book of Mormon” recently. If you’ve got some questions, Kevin DeYoung‘s article, “Mormonism 101” is a good place to start.
  • With the GOP debates in full swing, I appreciated this article over at WORLD magazine on the war on terror. We must always, always remember where our true allegiance lies.  “Woe to those who . . . rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!” (Isaiah 31:1)
  • I just love the words of this old hymn I found on Trevin Wax’s blog. We used to sing it in the Lutheran church and it is so rich! Read the lyrics to “If God Himself be for me” below and listen to the organ play it here.
    If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy,
    For when I pray, before me my foes confounded fly.
    If Christ, the Head, befriend me, if God be my support,
    The mischief they intend me shall quickly come to naught.I build on this foundation, that Jesus and His blood
    Alone are my salvation, the true eternal good;
    Without Him, all that pleases is valueless on earth:
    The gifts I owe to Jesus alone my love are worth.His Holy Spirit dwelleth within my willing heart,
    Tames it when it rebelleth, and soothes the keenest smart.
    He crowns His work with blessing, and helpeth me to cry
    “My Father!” without ceasing to Him Who reigns on high.

    To mine His Spirit speaketh sweet words of soothing power,
    How God to Him that seeketh for rest, hath rest in store;
    How God Himself prepareth my heritage and lot,
    And though my body weareth, my Heav’n shall fail me not.

    – Paul Gerhardt, 1656

  • Are you fighting temptation? Well, welcome to the party. Gosh, I’d be worried if I was the only one! It makes me feel even BETTER when I read an analogy from someone like C.S. Lewis (whom I admire like crazy) about past sins and future temptations and it makes sense! This excerpt is taken out of a collection of his letters and is SO spot on and encouraging!
  • You may not share my musical tastes (and that is completely fine), but I completely enjoyed the live performances of Feist and Bon Iver on the Jools Holland show. Watch them HERE. Both are so clever with instrumentation and … well, I just appreciate their musical style and creativity.
  • If you’re not a fan of that music, try this out – Keith and Kristyn Getty made this song FREE in anticipation of their Christmas album. It’s a beautiful song to get “stuck” in your soul. You can listen/download it here:
Okay… there is more to come. What news have you worth sharing?
let LOVE fly like cRaZy
Posted on by Caroline 3

on mission

A year ago tonight I was in the middle of a tutoring session. Yes, I was teaching my girls how to make sushi because I invited them to my house for my birthday party. And, yes, when I say, “girls” I mean the beautiful ladies I was led to disciple while I lived in Honduras. They still don’t believe I’m the age I am … all the laughter and silliness and games and conversations until 4 am simply HAVE to make me a mere 20 (and I’ll take that any day!). Here’s Elena making her sushi roll!

Today seems so very far from that laughter crowded night, but the Lord is always drawing me ever closer to His face. After driving to Waukesha, Wisconsin (roughly 7.5 hours) on my birthday to pick up a missionary/friend at her school and driving back on Friday (roughly 9 hours if you figure in our “detours”) to bring her to the missions conference at our church, I got to listen to missions speakers all day long speak about the Gospel and how it is transforming lives. From Russia to ethnic groups in the Midwest to rural towns to gypsies to students being trained for tribal missions, I soaked up the encouragement of those who are being sent out in Jesus’ name to bring the Gospel to all the nations.

Then, God brought a different group together (with just as much coffee but a few more years than my girls in Honduras) to bring encouragement and laughter and insight. As we sat around tonight and talked about missions and prayer, we all agreed that God doesn’t need us to do His work (as so many have said before). The only thing keeping the 10/40 window (an illustration to describe the great number who have not heard the Gospel) open is the Lord’s sovereign will that it is so. He desires that, through missions, we might know Him better, love Him better, and enjoy Him more. Through the faithful going and doing, we lose ourselves, shed our sinful skin, and take on the likeness of our Savior.

I praise God for His call to go because it is a call to see Him.

to see His grace for us, while we are sinners.

to see His great love and affection towards us.

to see His patience and faithfulness.

God is so good to call us to spread the good news because it is a call to die to what we hold dear so that we can live for what is most dear.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 1

this & that

Roman and italic ampersands. Based on plain an...
Image via Wikipedia

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.

Posted on by Caroline 1

Tuesday Links

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.

This is the video that sparked my reflection on Kyrie Eleison yesterday – a promo for Fernando Ortega‘s new album. Beautiful.

I also LOVE this video from Alan Hirsch about how Christians are risk averse. We are too comfortable and it is hurting the Church.

Lastly, the film “Tree of Life” debuted this morning at the Cannes Festival and here’s what people are saying, via The Search blog. This makes me even MORE excited to see this film! I have to admit, because of Brett McCracken‘s slight obsession, I am intrigued by Terrence Malick as a director and as a person.

Okay, that’s enough linkage for now.

Have a GREAT Tuesday – let LOVE fly like cRaZy!

Posted on by Caroline 1

Thoughts and Links

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! 🙂

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

here are more senior trip pictures

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted on by Caroline 0

post-Easter, pre-Eternity

Most people know the tension between living salvation on this earth and living eternal salvation in heaven as the “already, not yet.” To reflect on this tension after Easter seems fitting, because all of history points to Christ’s victory over the grave yet all of creation is still groaning for the completion of salvation (Romans 8). Today I am calling it post-Easter, pre-Eternity.

I spent yesterday almost entirely in laughter. The day felt bathed with it. I am convinced there is something beautiful to be found in abandoning yourself to a good fit of ridiculous laughter. Yesterday, with friendships too new to feel so “old,” I scrunched up my face and held my sides in a crazy fit of full body laughter. This, too, seems fitting to follow my Easter celebration. In fact, I imagine (call me a fool) that some people let out awkward laughter when they saw Jesus after news of the empty tomb got around. Everyone stood gawking and pointing (I imagine) and then there were those few whose laughter could be heard spilling all over the silence. Sometimes awe, wonder, joy, mischief, and glee can be communicated no other way.

So, there’s this tension. Salvation is here, but salvation is coming.

We are wrapped up in the glory of what Christ gained in his victory over the grave. We are bathing in it like I imagine joyful laughter bathed Christ’s post-resurrection steps. Tim Keller says, “The happy ending of the Resurrection is so enormous that it swallows up even the sorrow of the Cross.” Even our sorrows drown in the ocean of joy called Christ’s resurrection.

Yet, we all know we’re living on this side of eternity. We recognize black-clad funerals and cold, gray gravestones as the painful pattern of our mortality. We are certain no one has found or ever will find the secret to living forever. We are (in our most honest moments) more certain of the fact that living forever in this present world would be filled only with anguish and affliction.

Today, I am claiming a common denominator. For those of you who know me, I am in no place to use a mathematical reference and even further from qualified to stretch it into something helpful for my ideas. Yet, here I go. A “denominator” is the bottom number of a fraction (like 2 in 1/2). A “common denominator” is when the bottom numbers of fractions are the same (like 3 in 1/3 and 2/3). In other words, I think post-Easter, pre-Eternity is kind of like 1/2 and 1/2 – two parts of a whole redemption story. The common denominator? I wonder if it is glory. I believe Christ’s death and resurrection is all about bringing glory to God. I also believe our anticipation for Eternity is about bringing glory to God. This whole beautiful mess of a redemption story, from start to eternal finish is about glory going in the right direction – toward a most Awesome, Merciful, Compassionate, Just King.

In our (especially recent) post-Easter state, we are giving God the glory for the magnificent and finished work of Christ. In our pre-Eternity state, we are giving God the glory for a secure future in His presence. Whew! Here are two songs that come to mind when I think post-Easter, pre-Eternity. Sing along with them and let God’s glory fill the skies! Join the angels in this forever song! Please don’t miss the rich references to the Old Testament and how God is glorified in the ways His sovereign plan was revealed and His name praised long before it came to pass.

Skeleton Bones by John Mark McMillan

Peel back our ribs again
and stand inside of our chest.
We just wanna’ love you
We just wanna’ love you

Peel back the veil of time
And let us see You with our naked eyes
We just wanna’ love you
We just wanna’ love you

We want your blood to flow inside our body
We want your wind inside our lungs
We just wanna’ love you
We just wanna’ love you

Skeleton bones stand at the sound of eternity
On the lips of the found
And gravestones roll
To the rhythm of the sound of you
Skeleton bones stand at the sound of eternity
On the lips of the found
So separate those doors
And let the son of resurrection in.

Oh let us adore the
Son of Glory drenched in love
Open up your gates before him
Crown Him, stand Him up

Holy is the Lamb by Coffey Anderson

Lyrics:

I saw the Lord, seated on the throne
And the train of His robe filled the temple
And angels sing all around me
And the song that they sang was so simple

All they cried was:
Holy, holy is the Lamb
Holy, holy is the Lamb
Holy, holy is the Lamb
Holy, holy is the Lamb of God

let LOVE fly like CrAzY

Posted on by Caroline 2

thoughts on Easter

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:

The Overflow of Easter: A whole theology of resurrection in one chapter

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

Posted on by Caroline 0

bits and pieces

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.

—
—

Do you have any bits and pieces to add?

let LOVE fly like cRaZy

Posted on by Caroline 0

beautiful things

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
  • This article is interesting, from the Wall Street Journal on Gandhi. Might surprise you what story history tells.
  • 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:

You may find that a volcano erupts in your soul. Like it did for me 28 years ago.

let LOVE fly like cRaZy!

Posted on by Caroline 0