I know what you’re thinking: this is either me taunting you about a delicious drink I bought for $5.00 OR me taunting you about a delicious drink I found on Pinterest that you would never make.
Surprise! It’s neither.
This delightful little number will make your morning, noon, and/or night taste like comfort. And, just so you know, the directions are about as simple as they come (which is good, because I spend a lot of time trying to make things in my life complicated).
Here’s what you do:
1) Throw some of your best brew in your coffeemaker (nothing fancy, but make it on the strong side)
2) While your java’s brewing, fill your mug halfway with skim milk
3) Add a capful of vanilla to the milk and a few lumps of brown sugar
4) Heat the milk in the microwave for 30-45 seconds
5) Place a wire whisk in your warmed milk and slide your hands back and forth to create a good, stiff foam
6) Pour your hot java into the foamed concoction
7) Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top to make it look like someone else made it
ENJOY!
This is how my morning started today – with a coffee that looked like it was ordered off a hip, chalkboard menu. If that doesn’t put a person in a good mood, I don’t know what would.
*My cousin Vince told me yesterday that my post was, “weird.” I guess I’m trying to take a little break from the long-winded posts as of late. I’m sure my grandparents will thank me.Â
I know I haven’t done a “this & that” post for a long while. It’s overwhelming, okay? That’s the bottom line. There is just too much to share! Here are a few bullet points for you to click on, read through, think on, look at. But, just so you know, it’s always the hardest thing to narrow it down!
I loved this article, “Poetry and the Common Good,” from Qideas. Here’s a little sneak peek: “Learning to love poetry could prove a valuable counter-practice to scientism’s language of certainty and its assault on the wholeness of the human. Truth, whether scientific or other, needs beauty to keep it from becoming harsh and dogmatic. There is a mysterious depth to the art of poetry that is designed to pierce the illusion that we see the world directly, and it does so by sinking into the deepest depths of consciousness, into the kardia of our being, showing us how imprecise our certainty can become.”
Do you LOVE the snapshots of life – especially when they’re done well? Then you’ve got to check out these photos from March from around the world. The Big Picture from Boston.com lets us travel around the globe through a bunch of camera lenses.
Sometimes we don’t call a spade a spade – which is pretty silly (I mean, how long can we kid ourselves? Spades will always be spades). Idols are that way often in our lives – we don’t call them what they are and then we’re upset when they don’t give us what we want. Read this article by Justin Buzzard, “That Idol that You Love, It Doesn’t Love you Back” and you’ll be blessed. Promise.
I could probably write a hundred posts on the new music I’ve been listening to, but I’ll just post a few here and hope that you can fill in the blanks.
It’s a hopeful statement, yes, but it very much ends with a powerful period. This morning, I am forgetting not His benefits and I am satisfied.
Psalm 103:2
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
When there are ripples of discontent or rumblings of doubt, God reminds me that He responds to my questions with an answer always as full and lush as Spring.
He satisfies.
He satisfies. He satisfies.
So, today I’m hoping that I will…
“Let my sighs give way to songs that sing about your faithfulness
Let my pain reveal your glory as my only real rest
Let my losses show me all I truly have is you”
People keep asking me if I like living in Ames and I’m always a little thrown off, “I… I love it here. But, then again, I can’t remember living in a place I didn’t love.” Even for those 6 months of couch hopping, the days were simply too full of blessings to have room for anything else. I’ve realized I need to have some tangible things in response because people expect a tangible take-away in these kind of exchanges.
Here are a few I’ve found:
running paths (I take a new path almost every time I go)
college campus (I dive into deep conversations because people will just assume I fall into the ‘collegiate and questioning’ category)
friends (I know – it’s the whole state of Iowa – but it’s been SO easy to meet new, wonderful people)
family (after living in Michigan, Texas, and Honduras, I’m back in the home state and counting my many family blessings)
everywhere is close (after the capital city of Honduras and then rural southwest Iowa, Ames seems “just right” for now)
Those are some tangibles, but Josh Garrels was reminding me last night to “let go of all the things I can’t hold onto, for the hope beyond the blue” and man! it was making sense to my soul. With adrenaline pumping, I’m convinced my mind and heart syncopate their rhythms – like my knowledge and emotions merge for those 40 minutes. Sometimes (with earphones in), I sing out loud and pretend no one will hear. Last night, I felt moved to affirm Garrels’ words with emphatic arm gestures in the middle of the forest path. I’m not proposing this is normal or that you should understand, but I am certain your soul will be refreshed at the reminder: 2 Corinthians 4:18, “Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal.”
let LOVE fly like cRaZy
Stand on the shores of a site unseen
The substance of this dwells in me
Cause my natural eyes only go skin deep
But the eye’s of my heart anchor the sea
Plumbing the depths to the place in between
The tangible world and the land of a dreams
Because everything ain’t quite it seems
There’s more beneath the appearance of things
A beggar could be king within the shadows,
Of a wing
And wisdom will honor everyone who will learn
To listen, to love, and to pray and discern
And to do the right thing even when it burns
And to live in the light through treacherous turns
A man is weak, but the spirit yearns
To keep on course from the bow to the stearn
And throw overboard every selfish concern
That tries to work for what can’t be earned
Sometimes the only way to return is to go,
Where the winds will take you
And to let go, of all, you cannot hold onto
For the hope, beyond,the blue
Yellow and gold as the new day dawns
Like a virgin unveiled who waited so long
To dance and rejoice and sing her song
And rest in the arms of a love so strong
No one comes unless they’re drawn
By the voice of desire that leads em’ along
To the redemption of what went wrong
By the blood that coveres the innocent one
No more separation
Between us.
So lift your voice just one more time
If there’s any hope may it be a sign
That everything was made to shine
Despite what you can see
So take this bread and drink this wine
And hide your spirit within the vine
Where all things will work by a good design
For those who will believe
And let go, of all, we cannot hold onto
For the hope, beyond, the blue
Said I let go, of all, I could not hold onto
For the hope, I have, in you
The links have been piling up in my tabs like rush hour traffic in Chicago, so I hope you aren’t overwhelmed. Maybe read one or two and ask: How can my knowledge of God inform my obedience in a way that leads to actions full of love in reponse to these things?
I think there are probably too many prepositional phrases in that sentence, but it’s Friday and such things are allowed.
I am honestly intrigued by the way our culture simultaneously dismisses religion as a worldview and promotes an alternative that relies on metaphysical beliefs. As long as you keep “God” out of it, you can steal vocabulary, morals, and other concepts which seem to end up working pretty well for the people who practice them. This is a short post from Atlanta branding agency Matchstic (love their work!). The title should at least intrigue you, “Branding is Telling the Truth.”
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This was such a beautiful post about a father showing his love for and pleasure in Christ by singing like he meant it in front of his kids. Dad’s, Sing Like You Mean it made me hope that I can make people wonder at the source of my joy – when it bursts out in all the wrong places. I pray they see Christ, like this young man saw in his dad.
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Who hasn’t heard of Hunger Games? Another in a growing number of Young Adult fantasy books that has captured all audiences, this was the “it” series after Twilight (can’t say I minded the switch). I have yet to read them, but my sister zoomed through the books in a couple days, so I think I could finish them before the movie. I’m more interested in the books after reading this post at Redeemed Reader. Read “Hungry” for yourself and then watch the movie with your eyes wide open to what it says about our culture and worldview.
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I guess I’ll add myself to the crazy number bloggers who have something to say about Kony 2012. Actually, I’d rather just point you to some others who have gathered helpful resources and let you decide for yourself.  Here are the straight up stats from Denny Burk, “Measuring ‘Kony 2012’ Viral Impact.” This video is the most viral of all time. There is definitely something to learn about our culture, communication, and what stirs our collective heart. Here’s a helpful response from Matt Papa on Kony, injustice and creativity. Here’s an opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof in the NYTimes, “Viral Video, Vicious Warlord” that gives both praise and constructive criticism. Lastly, here’s an article at Relevant by Rachel Held Evans, “Is Kony 2012 Good or Bad?”
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Presuppositionalism is a big word, which is why I think we should all say it at least three times before this Friday gets any older.  “What is Presuppositionalism” by William Edgar, professor  at Westminster Theological Seminary, has got some theological jargon that tastes a little like three espresso shots (just so you’re prepared). More and more people are coming to the round table called “apologetics” and wanting to have a conversation. If you’re one of those people who would like to engage in intelligent discussion where you are ready to “give an answer to anyone who asks to give a reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15), then take a look. Here’s an excerpt:
An unbeliever knows God. Not just about him, but God himself in his many attributes. Certainly an unbeliever seeks to process that knowledge in a wrong direction, to his advantage (Rom. 1:18-23). But the knowledge is there, in the heart. Second, assuming this innate knowledge-cum-suppression, we move over onto the ground of our unbelieving friend. From there we attempt to show, on his own grounds, that there is a disconnect between the presuppositions and the claims. If this is God’s world, then we cannot succeed living in it if we deny him. Third, we invite our friend to “taste and see” how good the Lord is. As C. S. Lewis put it, “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
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Blue Like Jazz is a book that somehow became both a study guide for Bible studies and the religious road map for the seeker. Donald Miller‘s clever writing style refused to be pigeon-holed, but that meant a questionable rise to a position of authority on doctrinal issues. I liked the book, but I like the Bible better. Working with Steve Taylor (edgy Christian musician and now film producer), Miller hopes to bring religious questions into the mainstream. Read about how they hope to, “Blow up the Theatre Real Good.” Also this article from the Gospel Coalition, “Blue Like Jazz the Movie,” which shares my thoughts exactly on the whole phenomenon.
Left to ourselves, we are completely disinterested in coming to Jesus. —R.C. Sproul
These are the links that cluttered my tabs this week. I know they tend toward depressing, but that’s not my intention. I hope that we are informed and that our knowledge of this world drives us back to our knees in our pursuit of knowledge of the Lord. Because, goodness, I don’t know what to do about all this.
In this article,“On Grudges and Generosity” Tony Reinke shares what Jonathan Edwards described as the root of all grudges: envy, contempt, resentment. In contrast, Edwards looks at God’s attitude of generosity toward us. This is an article I should probably read over and over again.
The documentary “Decadence: Decline of the Western World“ looks more than intriguing to me. You can view an interview with Pria Viswalingam (writer, director and presenter) below. From Center for Public Christianity’s website, “It is set in ten countries and features leading authors and academics as it traces the slow decline of the West. He came into CPX to discuss his documentary including why he sees the decline of family and religion as important markers of this decline.”
Remember that movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Well, now there is research that shows just how close to reality that might become. In the film, there is a treatment one can have that will erase memories. It’s strange and (of course) involves characters manipulating the memory erasing process for selfish means and sexual sins. Several days ago, I found this article, “The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever.” Â How much louder must our culture cry out before we respond with what they really want: a Savior.
In 2002, the Netherlands voted to make euthanasia legal. Now, there is a mobile team of doctors, knocking on doors and offering their euthanasia services (Euthanasia Squads Offer Death by Delivery). Doctors making house calls to help people kill themselves. Wow.
I’m not sure what is more disturbing – doctors traveling to speed death of the elderly or doctors proposing that a newborn baby isn’t actually a person. This article, “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?” (the article has since been removed)published by BMJ (whose purpose is to “improve health and make a real difference to clinical practice worldwide“), is not some fluke. These are doctors from around the world, Oxford educated folks who study bio-ethics and all the fields I’m not qualified to talk about. These guys say that the fetus and the newborn are equally “morally irrelevant” and only “potential persons.” In this article, they defend their belief that killing a baby after birth is not wrong. In the words of my cousin, “That is the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard.” This is not about abortion. This is about the value of life. Read an article from the Telegraph about the findings here.
Okay, that deserves a breather. We need to remember the Sovereign One who has ordered the universe and who desires that all would hear His plan for redemption. John Owen said we need but sit down by the fountain and the delight we find in Him will mean we won’t ever stray too far. God is too good for us not to come back to sit at the fountain again. Tim Challies quotes John Owen today in his blogpost.
Because I want you to keep reading my “this & that” posts, I’m ending with a song by Josh Garrels – Pilot Me. The only way we’re equipped to bear the brokenness in the world is if we put on Christ. Only Christ pilots in a way that both navigates shoals AND moves forward. God did not intend for His followers to hide in caves while the world goes to pot. God invites us to jump on board His ship as He draws His creation to Himself.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
(Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV)
When a young man told his minister he felt called to spend his life as a missionary in China, his minister replied,
“Ah, my boy, as you grow older you will get wiser than that. Such an idea would do very well in the days when Christ Himself was on earth, but not now.”
Funny how we are encouraged to wise up and grow out of the calling on our lives. We may not all be called to China, but there is this tender stage in youth (before we are calloused to the idea of Hope) where we look out into the world and think crazy things are possible.
The universities know about this stage. Professors often push students to question the “wiser” world’s calloused assumptions, but fail to give any adequate answers for solutions. We are not the solution. If that were the case, failure would be certain. Try as it may, secularism cannot offer anything deep enough to meet the needs of the world. Naturalism, humanism, and pantheism (as discussed in Poplin’s book Finding Calcutta) all come to definitive and depressing ends, far short of an answer to the world’s deep pain.
Fear not, friends – for secularism is not what God had in mind for the reconciliation of Creation to Himself. Our wisdom is foolishness to Him. Our human efforts and toil amount to nothing, unless He wills. Our plans and schemes are rubbish unless He decides otherwise. Nothing crazy can/will happen outside of God’s will.
In fact, only inside God’s will do we find that the impossible is possible. Paul writes,
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
(Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV)
I heard my friend preach a sermon on this passage and he marveled at Paul praying that  the people know the love of Christ that is impossible to know (…and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…). He is praying an impossible prayer for the people in Ephesus. He then quickly follows with a reminder: God is capable of doing the impossible – beyond what we can think or imagine.Â
He asks us to do the impossible – know Him, love Him – and then He provides a way to make it possible: Himself. He is the only One who transcends the constraints of this earth, the limitations of the physical world. He is the only One capable of making impossible things possible.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”
Acts 17:24-27, ESV
That young man who heard such discouraging words from his minister – his name was Hudson Taylor and he never got “wiser.” He was the founder of China Inland Mission and the catalyst in a new era of Protestant missions. He believed his calling was not one confined to “the days of Christ Himself,” but that proclaiming the saving message of the Gospel is exactly what it means to be Christ today. This is what it means to pray “Your Kingdom Come.”
So, go tell it on every mountain… and let us never be wiser.
I was reading this article, “The Myths of Progress and Relevance” by John Dickson (PhD, Ancient History) at the Gospel Coalition Blog last night and this statement toward the end is still marinating today.
‎”The true relevance of the gospel is found in its studied irrelevance to any particular culture, whether ancient Corinthian or modern New Yorker. We do not need another message that affirms what we already think in all our foibles and cultural particularities. We surely need one that is free to challenge, rebuke, frighten, and enlighten us, as well as comfort and affirm us when appropriate. That message is the gospel. It is precisely because the gospel was not crafted to endorse ancient Athenians or modern Americans that it is wonderfully relevant to both.”
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“…the Gospel was not crafted…”
Let’s start there. Sometimes I think we forget that we didn’t create this Gospel – we are not the authors and therefore deserve no credit for the masterfully written story. We have no reason to collect royalties or protect the Gospel as our intellectual property. The Gospel was not crafted – period.
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“…the Gospel was not crafted to endorse ancient Athenians or modern Americans…”
The Gospel is not a political move or the newest trend in “social justice” (whatever that means). The Gospel does not draw a line in the political sand or raise a national flag. The Gospel doesn’t endorse human ideas. The Gospel is God’s idea.
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“It is precisely because the Gospel was not crafted to endorse ancient Athenians or modern Americans that it is wonderfully relevant to both.”
The Gospel is not about progress. We will not evolve out of the idea or into it the longer we ruminate over it’s claims. We cannot make the Gospel legitimate. Oh, friends, we don’t have that kind of power. If the Gospel is what it claims, we are all (every generation, culture, people group, and nation) unworthy recipients. We will not reach an intellectual plane where it is no longer relevant.
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“We do not need another message that affirms what we already think in all our foibles and cultural particularities. We surely need one that is free to challenge, rebuke, frighten, and enlighten us, as well as comfort and affirm us when appropriate.”
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The Gospel is intentionally irrelevant in all the ways we’d rather it not be. The Gospel is not a cheerleader for our causes or the biggest fan of our agendas. The Gospel is not a product of this age or an influence in an epoch that has passed.
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The Gospel is God’s and He has intentionally made cultural differences only relevant in one way:Â the future joyful celebration of people from all tribes, tongues, nations joining together in grateful praise for the gift of salvation and communion with our Creator.
The wind whipped my face and wetness brushed my cheeks. I breathed hard, pushing through the generous bowl of soup I had for lunch. I could feel my braid stick to my neck under my stocking hat. My feet pounded the pavement, but my eyes drifted toward the sky.
Have you ever seen Dead Poets Society? It’s brilliant. It’s where I learned about the barbaric yawp.
And I suppose that is what started the guttural sound in mid-run today. It might have been what led me, with the train on my left and the university campus on my right, to then let out a “Yawp!”
I ran a few more steps and then tried it out again, but this time louder, “Yawwwwwp!”
I giggled and ran and then tried to eat the rain.
I don’t know if I’ll ever make sophisticated sense with my clothing style or my office banter, but I do know this: I don’t mind looking at the world like a child. I want to see wonder at the wind and delight in drops of rain. I want to stretch out my arms and “yawp!” because I am alive.
I haven’t posted anything for the past few days because I haven’t been using my computer… because I misplaced my cord. After the battery died a few nights ago, I shrugged, moved on, and thought, “Well, there’s that.” I knew it would turn up eventually. This is one of those times when I’m reminded I don’t fit in US culture anymore.
I know, I know. I’ve already hashed it out – knowledge is useless unless it results in obedient acts full of love. But, I literally have to remind myself of this every day, multiple times a day. It’s a discipline to recall those things I’m learning and then, instead of simply sharing my realizations,put them into practice. If I am learning to serve, then I must ask, “What can I do to serve right now?” instead of, “How can I explain what I’m learning about service right now?”
So, I’m learning what it means to see knowledge as responsibility – personal responsibility.
I’m also learning that catchy phrase from School House Rock, “knowledge is power,” holds true for our culture in a way that we often ignore.
Mary Poplin spent most of her life running after isms and throwing rocks at religion. After becoming a believer while a professor at Claremont in California, she decided to spend two months volunteering with Mother Theresa and the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. Her book, Finding Calcutta, explores how her journey shaped her young faith and impacted what she would understand a “Christian life” to look like. Let’s just say it looked a lot different than the Christianity she ran from for so long… and it had a lot to do with how our knowledge of God plays out in the everyday-ness of our lives. In grappling with her role as an educator, she writes about a realization she had on a plane ride one day,
“…Genesis 1:1-3 informs us that ‘in the beginning… the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.’ I saw distinctly the three moving as one – God, His Spirit and His Word. What a miracle that these three always agree! The Gospel of John reveals more about the Word that God spoke, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without Him was not anything made that was made… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ Paul tells us in Hebrews that Jesus ‘is the exact imprint of God’s very being,‘ and in Colossians that ‘by him all things were created… and in him all things hold together.’Â I asked myself, If these are true, then how could anything I taught not relate to God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus?”
Christianity is not knowledge on Sundays to make our Monday through Friday knowledge a little less painful. Following Christ is not about believing a nursery rhyme because believing real truth is just too depressing.
Some of our generation’s atheist thinkers (who would philosophically trace back to David Hume), explain our fascination with religion in this dualistic way. Because we can’t deal with the reality that life has no meaning, we create meaning so we can sleep at night. We have what Francis Schaeffer called a two-story concept of truth.
     VALUES     Â
FACTS
We conveniently hold two competing worldviews in a dichotomy so that we can appease both the ‘scientific facts’ and the ‘subjective feelings’ warring within us. We can say, “The sun will come up” with sure, scientific conviction as much as we can be convinced that “no one really knows the meaning of life or if there is one.”
Pearcey takes Schaeffer’s two-story idea in her book Saving Leonardo and explores its implications throughout history – bringing us up to our jumbled, dichotomous understanding of truth today. She writes of one Cambridge philosopher, Peter Lipton, who has a Jewish background. In an interview, he once said, “I stand in my synagogue and pray to God and have an intense relationship with God, and yet I don’t believe in God.”
Stranger than his statement is that to question him is ‘intolerant’ and anti-intellectual. When did “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” start to say, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Biblical wisdom” in Psalm 9:10? We are not so developed, my friends – not so progressive as we like to think. It used to be that the great theologians were naturally the great philosophers; that great pastors were naturally the great scholars; that great evangelists were naturally great orators. Why? Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7)… and not just cute, Sunday school knowledge. All knowledge.
What Mary Poplin realized on that plane ride was that there is only one Truth. Sure, people believe different things – about science and philosophy and art and what happens to the worms who will one day eat our flesh. But, believing in something doesn’t make it true. There is only one Truth that makes sense of things on this earth and it starts with a holy fear of the Lord.
Our culture is parched. The people are desperate for this no-holds-barred message. Forget sugar-coated. Forget patty cake and beating around the bush. They want answers. The hard stuff. The rated R conversations with God.
Two Cathedrals clip from The West Wing (warning for language)
The world will not make sense until we understand that all knowledge must begin with a fear of the Lord. Until then, our generation is simply caught in the crossfire of heaven and hell with no defense, just like Brandon Flowers croons.
Our culture is CRYING OUT and hoping that something calls back. I think they’re even willing to wrestle it out, ready to tear down the stories of skyscrapers built to stand against religion, if it means there is something solid to stand on underneath.
We Don’t Eat by James Vincent McMorrow (lyrics here)
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MUSINGS IN THE MIDST 