Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl



This is the last page from a chapter called, "Your mother was a lizard," where he attacks (Elijah style) evolution and Nietzsche. This excerpt can stand alone but the full value of the book will come when you buy it!

From the book:

"I stand, ripening in the sun, on a street corner by a coffee shop. The world spins on, undisturbed in its route. Summer has come with the loveliness of a mother. Heat, not warmth, now pours onto my face, aging me, taking me closer to death. Let it. I am here to live my story, to love my story. I will not fail to savor any gift out of a desire for self-preservation. Self-preservation is not a great virtue in this story.

I have this world, and everything in it has me, poor trade though it is. I have a barbecue. I will use it tonight. Over my shoulder a girl approaches, pushing a wheelchair. A man sits in it, twisted, drool dried on chapped lips beneath the tangles of an untrimmed moustache. Nietzsche's voice is hard to understand. 'The Christian concept of a god (Nietzsche says) as the patron of the sick, the god as a spinner of cobwebs, the god as a spirit--is one of the most corrupt concepts that has ever been set up in the world: it probably touches the low-water mark in the ebbing evolution of the god-type.'

I want to ruffle his hair. I want to take the poor Lutheran boy's head in my hands and kiss his creased forehead. It is all I can do. I cannot set a bone, let alone a soul.

He moves on, preaching unbelief to an empty street.

And I move on, with the sun on my face. Clouds are growing in the west, glorious clouds piled up with rowdy care and sparked with electric life. I fill my lungs with the world, with this life, with this gift beyond containing. There is only one thing I can say. Thank you. And I must say it with my life. Through my life. To the end of my life.

And after."

Can Christians write good stories?

"Christians have long neglected the craft in favor of Sunday School moralism..."

Listen to this excellent interview of Nathan Wilson by Kevin Swanson, pastor in CO:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=63009110501

Monday, July 6, 2009

Hello there stranger!

This is for my anonymous responder.. Following the thread on "Relationships"

Thanks for the reply! Feel free to show yourself ;) Or not.

I agree, there are times when relational weakness masks itself by showing itself strong in "ministries" at the expense of family. This is a large problem. It is so very easy to give the best of ourselves over to everything and anything other than the family God has given us. May God help us from hypocrisy.

At the same time, I have also observed another form of imbalance. That is, families that hole themselves up at the expense of living/dieing for the Church. Richard Lusk has two fantastic sermons on the problem of patriarchalism, where the family becomes more primary than the "institutional" (if you will) Church. You can listen here: http://www.trinity-pres.net/audio/sermon05-09-18.mp3 The title is: "The Church and Her Rivals Part I: Against the Family. and Part II is: The Church and Her Rivals Part II: Focus the Family. It was Sep. 18 and 25 of 2005. They are very well done.

So, whereas the appearance of busyness in serving others can be a mask towards familial failure, it isn't always the case. I have definitely been in more traditional evangelical churches that could rebuke us in some chief relational ministries in which the Lord has blessed them. I will say though, they usually were at least Calvinistic or close thereto.

Thanks for the encouragement, and the Lord's blessing on you!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Fatty

The other day our neighbor cat that we have named Fatty plopped himself/herself? down in the middle of the street. Like Adam, I named him as he is because he looks like a cow both in weight and fur.

So there was Fatty.. Two cars piled up behind this queen and she ain't movin'. She just stared at them. Her tail lapped the cement as if to say, "I dare you to drive over me."

The cars drove around our neighborhood queen by the way.

Just thought I'd share..

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Don't be petty

This is my prayer today against all my pettiness.

This is my war today against small-mindedness.

Slay narrow minded thoughts. Stop trying to bring God down to your simple outlook. Don't try and bring the beauty, difficulty, and complexity of the messiness of life down to something that only your pea brain can manage. God won't be limited, why do I try and limit Him to the plane of my finitude? Let God be God in your life and in the world. His messiness is better than my attempts to control.

Stop trying to force God's wondrous multiplicity (the Trinity) into my unitarian tidiness of my 1x1x1 comfortable space.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Julia's not too far behind this, and I have 3 others!

Monday, June 22, 2009

beach in Newport

that would be another shark!

Petting baby sharks

The area around the OR coast aquarium --probably why it was so expensive to get in!

Abby's hair showed enjoyment in the humidity

NOT the view of an average hike!

Hannah

Trip to OR coast 09 1st of several pics



I was able to get some decent close up shots

Hard Work

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going." Eccl. 9:10

We know that our work in Christ Jesus will stand in the resurrection (one verse to support this is Heb 6:10-"For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister").

But we have one life to live before the perfection of the resurrection.

I am strongly reminded from time to time that one of the simple differences between mature believers and more immature is plain old hard work at whatever you're doing.

But hard work is always a bit more romantic in another man's field...

Friday, June 19, 2009

The darker elements of some Youth ministries

For those of you who haven't seen this on Doug Wilson's blog here you go:




Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pastor Alexander at 75?



Notice the gray hair under the chin!

American religion

..."What was new with the American experiment in religious liberty (and implicitly in religious diversity) was the rationale used by both secularists and the devout for this new arrangement of religion and public life." D. G. Hart

An "arrangement" of over-reaction against the abuses of the European Christian nations, secularism, and an overall bowing down to the Enlightenment ideals of which we are now paying dearly... Jesus as Lord should have pervaded the Constitution and all government work. Not that by doing so would have ensured spiritual utopia but we should have declared Jesus our King instead of ourselves (the people, demos)