The Aura of Expectancy
Yesterday during communion, Aaron Watson mentioned that we had already had one baptism that morning, and he expected we would have more. All he meant was that he knew there was another (double) baptism coming later in the morning. But what I heard...and what most of us heard...was that we shouldn't be surprised if more people put on Christ as a result of our current focus on evangelism. It really made me think about my attitude towards our study, towards prayer, towards the work God does in people's lives. Why wouldn't we expect God to stir us up? Why wouldn't He answer our prayers about showing others who Jesus is? Why would we even bother teaching evangelism unless we truly expect people to respond? I am so excited to see how some are embracing this opportunity to change lives. My sincerest prayer is that it doesn't end in a few weeks when we move on from our series; that we all continue to build relationships, pray together, encourage each other on in the work God has set before us. Praise God for the 3 new creations we met yesterday. Pray that there are many more to come.Moral dilemma for the day: Wednesday the first spring training game of the year will be televised. I'm sooo tired from a full working weekend. Wednesday's workday consists of nothing more than just giving these newly mandated benchmark tests to two periods. Don't wanna go, don't wanna, don't wanna. I'd really rather stay home, sleep in, get up and watch a ball game (a BALL GAME!), and rest that day. What will I do? Stay tuned.Lisa was gone most of the day Saturday and James wanted to play all day. He took a nap for about an hour but otherwise he just won't play by himself when I'm home. I had to finish my lesson and do my powerpoint presentation that day, neither of which got done until after he went to bed. Sunday was a full day of preaching, teaching, and meeting before collapsing on the couch around 3:00. I have a stack of AP tests to grade, no lesson plan for Calculus tomorrow, and no plans for Alg. II beyond Wednesday. It's hard to put your nose to the grindstone when it's already ground to a nub. So, I guess I should probably get back to work now....
Surprised by Prayer
Shame on me for constantly being surprised by God's answer to prayer. In our small group last night, a few of us talked about how we had been praying for God to provide opportunities for us to share our faith at work, for Him to work in the hearts of those around us. I was probably the only one who was surprised that He has actually been answering those prayers. But of course He is working in their hearts! We forget that God loves and works with non-Christians just as much as with Christians. It's incredible to see His handiwork when they don't even know He's doing anything. My lesson for yesterday was to stop being surprised by what He does in answer to prayer and be expectant...ready. He is so amazingly, wonderfully, totally from beginning to end IN CHARGE!!!I love the respect the Angels get these days. I used to read so many articles about who has the best players, who looks good this season, who made good signings, etc. and the Angels would never even be mentioned. And now it seems to be Yankees, Red Sox, Angels in the A.L. Nice for a change.It's Friday! After-school baseball today (PEARNK!) and then home to write Sunday's lesson. It's mostly in my head, I just need to get the particulars down.... James has been SO talkative lately. He has a LOT to say. We used to joke around when we were waiting (what seemed like forever) for him to say his first word. We figured that once he started talking, he'd never stop. Well, he hasn't stopped yet.
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATAN???
So, here's a guy we don't talk about very often. Christians believe that there is a single God (albeit in at least 3 forms..."at least 3"???...there's a topic for another blog) who created life, the universe, and everything. We believe that He gave us the ability to choose or own way; believe or not believe, worship or not worship, do good or do evil. We also believe that there is a dark power at work in the world, devising ways to keep us from loving God, which is, in the end, all He truly asks of us. So if there IS this one being who is bent on turning us from the best path, who worms his way into our lives every single day and, all too often, has success...why don't we ever talk about him? Okay, we talk about him sometimes, we pray for protection from him and perhaps even acknowledge his work, but we don't do much on the "know your enemy" front. Is it fear? Lack of understanding? Priority? Maybe it's time for us all to compare notes a bit more. To talk to each other about what Satan does that works and how we've learned to avoid him. I have seen the roaring lion and I don't want to be devoured.I'm one of those rare teachers that really looks forward to supervision duty. Of course, I try to do all my duty at varsity baseball games. Friday is the first of the year that I will get to see and I can already hear the "PEARNK!" of the aluminum bats.James threw up all over me last night. Ain't parenting great? He got up 3 times after going down (very rare for him) and was complaining that his stomach hurt. Then his head hurt and, sure enough, he was running a fever around 101.4. We just tried to keep him calm until we went to bed ourselves and then we put him back down. And that's when he covered his sheets, blankets, pillow, carpet, chair, bathroom linoleum, Lisa, and me with vomit. And after a few minutes of crying and sobbing and trying to understand what in the world was happening to him, he said, "I wanna play." He had no more trouble the rest of the night and felt good this morning. He still has a little fever so he and Lisa are staying in today. But I am amazed, as always, at the bodies God created for us. Garbage in, garbage out. We heal ourselves so routinely that we often don't even think about it. Amazing child...amazing God.
Head vs. Heart
Much of Sunday's lesson revolves around appealing to the heart of the non-Christian as opposed to the head. We need to cultivate the soil of the heart, show people how God shows us love and gives us peace. Simply arguing our position and getting them to understand what Christianity is before sincerely showing them what it is hasn't worked. Yet as a "veteran" Christian I enjoy reading about people who were convinced by reason alone that God is real. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy" does this as he explains to doubters how he arrived at his conclusion that there has to be more to the world than chance. And now Ashley has loaned me her copy of Mere Christianity in which C.S. Lewis does the same. Solid reasoning by intelligent Christian men makes for very interesting reading. And when you realize that both of these men tried very hard NOT to believe, it makes the arguments vital to understand.I was reading Mike Cope's blog this morning and he asked people to respond to his question of why NASCAR is so popular. I thought it was funny that more people wrote about the excitement of the coming baseball season than wrote about NASCAR. Some said that the only thing they like about the NASCAR season is that it heralds the coming of baseball. See? I'm not alone.The weekend went by as fast as I figured it would and I feel like I haven't stopped moving since Friday afternoon. It was a very good one though. Lisa and I had some good time to spend together and her birthday was a lot of fun. We are blessed with such an awesome family and such amazing friends. We're so thankful!
Dos and Don'ts
I've been reading a little about legalism in the church and it's got me thinking about do's and don'ts, or maybe I should call them shoulds and shouldn'ts. It's poker night tonight and I remember a time when I was asked by a church leader to stop playing poker because some people in the church were offended by it. I did. For about 6 months. And then it hit me how silly that request was and I started playing again. We've spent so much time living by rules that there is an incredible sense of freedom when you begin to understand what grace is all about. Still, there have to be some things we shouldn't do. There's a fine line between enjoying the freedoms of a new covenent and justifying that something's okay because we like doing it. So I don't have a problem with playing cards...or going to movies or women wearing pants or "mixed bathing." But foul language? Drinking to excess? Pornography? Plenty of Christians justify these things as we pendulum away from the legalism of earlier years. But our utmost responsibility is as ambassadors to the world. What does the world think when they hear bad language from us? When they see us partying harder than anyone else? How are we different from anybody else then?Arte Moreno is making noise about buying a television station to broadcast Angels games. This upsets some people. As did changing the name. As did letting fan favorites like Percival and Eckstein go. But it sounds very much like he's trying to build a strong team that contends every year. It sounds like he's modeling his team after the Yankees and, though I can hate the Yankees with the best of 'em, that's not a bad team to emulate. They've had some success.Did I mention that it's poker night tonight? Tomorrow we'll see Staci and celebrate Mom's 70th at the Olive Garden. Sunday is Lisa's birthday and dinner at Yoshino. Then after we go out to breakfast on Monday, Jamison is coming over for some playtime and that night we'll have dinner at the Weaver's. This will be another full weekend but it will be a lot of fun. I think 3 days off will probably feel like 1.
The Opposite of Sin
Yancey says that the opposite of sin is not virtue. It's grace. And I've just been thinking about that all day.I wrote "Draft Day" on my calendar today and got excited about it. I had such a horrid year last year that I didn't much enjoy fantasy baseball at all. I was never in it at all the whole year and finished dead last by a LOT. So the thought of redemption is high on my mind right now. Lisa sounded even worse this morning and is actually going to the doctor. I'm proud of her for doing that because she doesn't like it any more than I do. And, with James, it's harder for her to do. I'm hoping she gets some pills and gets better by the weekend so we can really enjoy her birthday. 29. Wow. Almost 30.
The Christian "RIGHT!"
There was a discussion last week in the ZOE blog about homosexuality and a couple of contributors who are gay mentioned some of the horrible things people have said to them. In one of the chapters of Yancey's book that I read today, he wrote about a gay march he attended in D.C. where a group of protesting "Christians" were shouting such beautiful slogans at the passers-by as "Faggots go home," "Shame on you for what you do," and "AIDS, AIDS, it's comin' your way." Yancey's friend, Mel White, wrote a book about being a gay christian entitled "Stranger At the Gate." A letter he received after publication ended thusly: "If you don't [repent], thankfully you will receive what you deserve, an eternity in Hell reserved for all who are enslaved to Sin and refuse to Repent." I have spent a great deal of my life being repulsed by the thought of homosexuality. But I find that I am equally disgusted by the hatred and hyprocrisy demonstrated by people who call themselves followers of Christ. And these are not the first two times that the issues of homosexuality and christianity have been juxtaposed right in front of my face recently. And I wonder why. What is God preparing me for? It's like flipping a switch in my brain to go from the first to second paragraph in this thing most days. But who cares? I love baseball and it's nice to spend some time thinking about it. Especially on the day that Angels spring training camp opens. I looked up Paul Byrd's career numbers today, disappointed as I have been that he was our only new starter acquired this off-season. I knew he had arm surgery that kept him out of the '03 season, but I didn't know that he had won 17 games in '02 and pitched over 220 innings. And by the end of last season he looked like his old self. He could prove to be a big pick-up. Lisa has yet another CM thing tonight and that makes 4 things in the last 6 days. She works hard and brings in some very helpful money. But sometimes...well...ugh. It can make the evenings tough. Maybe we'll win the lottery soon and get to take a few months off. Of course, maybe I should buy a ticket.
Location, location, location
God's use of location on this earth interests me. I just learned that two very similar things happened in the seaport of Joppa. That's where Jonah got the call from God to take His message to the godless Ninevites. It's also where Peter was when he saw the vision of unclean animals that was God's call for him to take his message to the godless Gentiles. Is there significance? Why would God place both of his prophets in the same location (and who knows just how close those locations were) and give them both the same message. "Everyone is saved," says God. "Go tell them." It makes me think of that hilltop in Jerusalem...the place where Abraham took his precious son to sacrifice him...the place where the temple was built by God's chosen kings and God "lived" for so many years...the place that His own beloved son was sacrificed for us all while we were still sinners. What's in a location? Pitchers and catchers reported today. And it's raining cats and dogs outside. Hard to get in the baseball spirit but it's close. So very close. The hockey season is thiiiis close to being cancelled. Football is over. Basketball is so full of thugs that even the fans are barely paying attention. It's almost time for, as Peter Gammons called it, the post-steroids era to begin. I pray it's true. Lisa was sick for Valentine's Day. We ended up ordering out and sitting and watching some of her favorite shows together last night. I know she thinks I didn't enjoy it, but I really did. Just spending time with her is still great. It was also, I have to admit, nice not to be the one who was sick for a change. It's been a tough school year.
A question of calling
After the lesson yesterday on being called to the workplace, I got a really good question. It concerned somebody who is going through a very difficult time at work with some decidedly un-christian things going on there. It moved into a discussion of when is God calling us to change where we work. We talked about how God tends to use us so much more during the hard times, particularly in the area of sharing our faith. How much different must we look to those around us when we don't get angry or seek retribution. They must wonder why we don't attack those who disagree with us and why we love somebody even after they have repeatedly hurt or insulted us. And if we are doing those things that make us look just like the world, how many opportunities are we passing up? I wonder if it's easier to represent God during the easy times but consequently harder to share our faith because we aren't acting much different than the world would act in the same situation. Being godly through the rough patches may actually give us a greater chance to share who we really are. I watched Jose Canseco's interview on 60 Minutes last night. He's just as twitchy as ever. I don't believe everything the man says, but I'm surprised at how much I DO believe. Did McGwire juice? C'mon. Sosa? C'mon. Bonds? C'MON! The home run record still stands at 61 as far as I'm concerned. The weekend went by about as fast as I thought it would. There was little time for rest but some great memories. James just astounds me with his attitude and politeness. I'm so happy with how he treats others. His little "excuse me's" and "thank you's" are like nuggets of gold. He almost didn't get to go to a birthday party Saturday that he was talking about all day. But after some initial crying, he moved his attention to what he was doing and had a great time. I think some kids would have let that ruin their day. I took him with me to the pre-service prayer Sunday morning and he was perfect. I really liked doing that. Dad is pretty proud.... Just before 3rd period today, one of my guys was holding a huge monkey balloon in the hallway. When the class came in, one of my girls had it. I may be slow, but I eventually figure out who's with whom. We had a lot of fun with it. And I really enjoy saying, "huge monkey balloon."
Praying the Prayer
Most Church of Christ members have a knee-jerk reaction to the phrase "pray the prayer." It's automatically recognized as what other denominations would describe as the prayer one prays to accept Jesus into your heart. My concern today is not whether the prayer ensures one's salvation. But I'll get that out of the way quickly enough anyway: Q. Are there going to be people in heaven who "only" prayed the prayer and were never baptized? A: Yes. Enough already. Rather, I've been thinking about the CofC's tendency to ignore the prayer altogether. In our adamant rush to get people baptized, how often have we left out the prayer completely? We ask them, "Do you believe with all your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" They say yes. We give them the "I now baptize you..." liturgy and down they go. My fear is that we have neglected to mention anything to them of the need for repentence. The need to tell God that we've done wrong and we're turning around now. The need to tell Him that we are giving Him our hearts. Is the confession of Christ important? It's vital. But we are so worried about pointing out to others what they are missing in baptism, that we don't even notice what we are missing in that prayer...that admission to God that we need Him, that we're lost without Him. I'm sure that I was baptized for many years before I ever prayed that prayer. I'm just as sure that I was saved before I prayed it. But praying it was a turning point in my walk, just as getting baptized is a turning point in the walk of those who have "only" prayed the prayer up to that point. I'm learning more all the time about this process of salvation. Five reasons to hate the Yankees: 1. Arrogant, front-running fans. 2. Winning by having the most money. 3. Jason Giambi. 4. Gary Sheffield. 5. Arrogant, front-running fans. Five reasons to like the Yankees: 1. Derek Jeter. 2. Mariano Rivera. 3. Mike Mussina. 4. Joe Torre. 5. Derek Jeter. Game night tonight at Rich's. Home to work on PowerPoint for Sunday. Lisa in Easton most of the day tomorrow so Daddy time with James. Refine sermon tomorrow night. Double duty at church on Sunday which leaves me (as BB King would say) T-I-D-E for the rest of the day. And then back to work. Man, where did the weekend GO?
The Book of Life
John Donne: "For in the Book of Life, the name of Mary Magdalen was as soon recorded, for all her incontinency, as the name of the blessed Virgin, for all her integrity; and the name of St. Paul, who drew his sword against Christ, as soon as St. Peter, who drew his in defence of him: for the Book of Life was not written successively, word after word, line after line, but delivered as a Print, all together." You can't earn your way into the Book. Your name is...get this...already there!
Pitchers and catchers report in a week. A week. Just time enough for the Angels to surprise us all with their acquisition of a great pitcher. Who? I don't know...that's why it's going to be such a surprise.
James is still a bit scratched up but none the worse for wear in spite of his face plant. He and Lisa (and Grammie and Hannah) are going to Disney on Ice tonight while I start the small group study at Kyle and Judy's. I have high hopes for the study tonight. I need to just listen, take notes, and let the people there write my sermons for me.
Bad Math
Yancey wrote an article called "The Atrocious Mathematics of the Gospel" that had people calling him a blasphemer and satanic. In it, he wrote ironically about 4 stories, one from each gospel. He said it didn't make sense that a shepherd would leave 99 sheep to look for one...that a widow would be praised more for giving 2 coins than a rich man who had given millions...that a woman should pour a pint of perfume on Jesus' feet, perfume worth a year's wages...or that a man who had worked an hour should get paid the same as a man who had worked a whole day. He said that few sermons had been preached on that last story. I think one should be preached. Soon. We keeping wanting God's "math" to add up according to our standards. Grace doesn't work that way. If it did, we'd all be doomed. Capon said, "If the world could have been saved by good bookkeeping, it would have been saved by Moses, not Jesus."
Lisa bought me a cereal bowl that looks like a baseball and James was so excited for me to use it today. I'm so happy that Lisa has embraced the sport I love so much. I know she did it for me. I hope James learns to love it too.
Yesterday, James crashed face-first into the cement at school. Apparently, he fell of a bike. He has scratches on his forehead, chin, and under his nose. His upper gums and teeth were banged up (again) and his upper lip is split. Yesterday his lip was huge for a few hours. Lisa had to see the worst of it and take care of him while I was at work. He was fine by the time I got home. We try to make ourselves feel better every time something like this happens by reminding us that all little boys get scratched and bruised at times and that we're lucky he's active enough to FALL off a bike. And it's true...but it's still tough when you're sweet little guy gets hurt.
Called
I love Mordecai's quote in the fourth chapter of Esther: "Who knows but you were called to royal position for such a time as this?" Every time we complain about our situation, especially our jobs, it's probably not a bad idea to keep that quote in mind. God calls us to each place at the perfect time for His purpose. It's when I put my purpose above His that I'm unable to see the opportunities in front of me. Opportunities to serve others, to serve Him, and to offer up especially pleasing sacrifices.
The only baseball news today is about Canseco's book and, thus, about steroids. I pass on the baseball paragraph today. Ugh.
It's amazing what a weekend of rest will do. I feel better than I have in months. The antibiotics didn't hurt either. Got to LOVE 4-day weeks.
Grace
This weekend I started reading Phillip Yancey's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" I've been looking forward to it for a long time and it's one of those books I plan on savoring rather than devouring. I love Yancey's writing style, but mostly that he has struggled with many of the same things I have. Four chapters into this book I can already tell it will be a favorite. Today I read of a British conference where the topic was, "What makes Christianity different from any other religion?" Deciding to use the process of elimination, the scholars made a long list of the tenets of Christianity. Incarnation? No, other religions held that their dieties became flesh. Resurrection? Again, no...the idea of coming back in this life or another is fairly common. C.S. Lewis wandered into the meeting and asked what the discussion was about. After being told he replied, "That's easy. Grace." And it's true. In no other religion is the love, the reward, the gift...all free! And unconditional. Yancey reminds me of why I love Jesus. And what the message is for others.
The Super Bowl is over. The Patriots won. Again. Whoopee. Is it baseball season YET??? The weather has been beautiful for the past few days. Today, I actually got to play golf with Rich. If there had been a ballgame on when I got home the day would have been just about perfect.
James has been a great kid lately. He's really been into giving hugs and playing and been really obedient with both me and Lisa. I spent about an hour in the attic today getting all of his clothes out and his swing and high chair. It isn't the least bit hard to give all that stuff away. It's hard to believe but I've loved him at every age more than I did the one before. I wouldn't want him to be a baby again any more than I would want to skip over the age he's at now and hurry on to the next one. God's aging him at just the right speed, thank you.
IN but not OF
When it comes to sin, is there anything harder than staying IN the world but not letting ourselves be OF it? It has to be the finest line there is. If we simply remove ourselves from all things worldly...don't go to THOSE movies, don't read THOSE books, don't listen to THAT music...we become irrelevant to those around us. We lose those vital chances to talk about things that matter. What if I didn't read "The Da Vinci Code" because I didn't like what it said about Jesus? Or skipped every movie that had bad language and missed the chance to discuss matters of the soul? Of course, the other option is deadlier: we can immerse ourselves back in the world. We can let the enemy convince us that we must be just like others to appeal to them and we may as well enjoy ourselves in the meantime. We forget that what is appealing to the world is that different-ness. We walk that fine line every day and, when it gets hard, it helps to remember that every other Christian, up to and including Paul himself, struggled with it just as we do.
ESPN.com is doing a series right now on who the best player is at this or that. What I like about it is that they're not talking about who is the best home run hitter, or who is the best strike out artist. They're picking more at the heart of what makes baseball great with topics like "Who is the best at breaking up double plays" or "Who plays the ball off the outfield wall the best?" They note the difference between having a strong arm and making good throws, between being fast and being a good baserunner. Two Angels have been the "best" so far: Vlad with the strongest arm and Colon with the best slide step. "Best first baseman around the bag" is coming up next week and I'm rooting for Erstad.
The weather has been incredible for the last few days. It's about 65 degrees right now and all I can think about is playing golf. Sometimes these classroom walls close in on me.... The Wooten/Watson group is coming over for game night tonight. I'm glad we chose to be a part of the group and grateful they've accepted us so willingly. They're a great bunch of people.... A three day weekend is coming up and I'm hoping to catch up on sleep, get a few things done, but mostly just get really, really well.
That they may all be one...
The passage that comes to mind more often than any other these days is Jesus' prayer in the garden. It was all over the place today. He said, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one..." I return to this text again and again, and rightfully so. Any thought important enough to be on our Lord's mind just before his sacrifice deserves our full attention. I truly believe that the church will be united in purpose before the last day and that we are moving in that direction now. The fingerprints of God's purpose are everywhere. Local churches all over the world seem to be working on the same issues, coming to the same conclusions, and finding joy in the discovery of brothers and sisters that for too many years were considered, at best, part of another church. Brandon asks for prayers for Otter Creek as the praise team strives to be examples of true worship. Sandra tells how she's been in prayer for our service on Sunday as we "sing differently." Mike Cope writes about a period of study coming soon in Abilene where they will be looking at scriptures dealing with the role of women in the church. And the Spirit continues to guide...into all truth...everywhere.
This is a new blog. I've already written how strange it seems that Carlos Delgado is a Marlin. Well, as of today, Sammy Sosa is an Oriole! It's nice to be old enough to remember when players didn't change their shirts so often. And superstars hardly ever moved around. If they did it was a big deal! Today it's routine.
James loved Boomers! He rode in a little slick track car all by himself and did great! He rode with his mom once and his dad once in the fast racecars. And we played lots of games and had a wonderful time together. What a blessing it is to watch our sweet baby grow into such a big boy. He's been trying our patience a bit lately...acting out more...being openly defiant at times. It's important to remember how great he is 99% of the time.
"A wife of noble character..."
"...who can find?" Proverbs 31 came to mind last night during some study and again this morning as I read Brandon's blog. I thought I'd list some of the ways it reminds me of MY wife. "Her husband has full confidence in her...she brings him good...and works with eager hands...she provides food for her family...her trading is profitable...she opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy...she is clothed with strength and dignity...she speaks with wisdom...she watches over the affairs of her household...her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her...a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." I love you, Lisa.
Nolan Ryan has been holding a pitching camp for the Astros. What a teacher! It got me wondering how many of today's players will be this kind of hero by the time they retire. I saw an article yesterday about a fundraiser that Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez both participated in. They charged people $7500 for private conversations with them. Each raised over two million dollars. A-Rod gave his money to the Boys and Girls Club of Miami. Bonds redecorated his house. No kidding. One of the reasons I love the Angels is because I think most (if not all) of their players can be respected, looked up to. I'll take a hero over an MVP any day.
James had fun at our dinner last night. We had tri-tip, french fries, and salad...and got to eat with our hands! The theme was medieval and there were sword fights, dragons, and puppet shows. The Mountain View staff worked hard and impressed me by being at work on a Monday night. Another reason to love my church.
Hit Counters
