Longing for Things Unseen

Win a Nursing Cover

2010-02-18T10:15:00.002-06:00

If you are a mom looking to win a beautiful nursing cover, check out the contest at Blend it Baby.

Just wondering...

2008-08-28T20:45:00.002-05:00

if anyone still reads this blog. Facebook is clearly an easier tool for internet social networking than blogs are. Therefore, I would rather write a quick note on someone's wall than write a long post on the blog. But maybe I will...

The Ceremony

2007-02-27T20:24:00.000-06:00

The first part of our wedding was a time of worship. We sang "Come, Thou Fount," "In Christ Alone" and "There is a Redeemer."

Jeff greeted the guests after the first song.

Here's Jeff saying his vows to me (actually, we both read them because we didn't trust our memories).

We recorded ourselves singing "Treasure of Jesus" by Steven Curtis Chapman which played while we lit our unity candle. We prayed together too (well, Jeff prayed and I was crying).

And, the Kiss!

Before we walked out, we had a time of prayer. Lots of friends and family surrounded us, and several men whom we had asked prayed for us out loud.

More Pictures

2007-02-08T21:37:00.000-06:00

Obviously I'm too lazy to write about the wedding, but here's some more pictures anyway.

A Few Wedding Pictures

2007-01-12T11:50:00.000-06:00

Shortest update EVER

2006-12-21T08:48:00.000-06:00

I'm getting married in 9 days (Dec. 30). I will be Christine Grace Hubel, and I will move to Jeff's house in Bloomington. I'm so excited, thankful to God, extremely busy and very in love. Yes, I will post wedding pictures.

Big Daddy Weave

2006-08-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I can add one more guy to my list of famous people I have met. This week I met Mike Weaver the lead singer of the group Big Daddy Weave.
Here's the story:

Last Sunday Jeff and I went to his company picnic/family day which was held at Midway Stadium. We had lunch and then watched the Saint Paul Saints play baseball. Well, we got bored after about 2 innings (I know, that's a shocker being the baseball fans that we are) and the benches were really uncomfortable and the sun was really hot, so we decided to leave. I had heard once on the Christian radio station that Big Daddy Weave was going to do a concert there that night, but it was not advertised on either the Saints' website or the station's. We had seen "St. Paul" on BDW's itinerary, but we just weren't sure if it was true or not. Ususally Christian concerts get lots of publicity, and since we had heard almost nothing about it, we thought maybe it was a mistake. On our way to Jeff's car, we passed a big coach bus and stopped short because in rather small letters by the left front tire we read "Big Daddy Weave LLC." We looked at each other and said, "It's true. He's here. He's in that bus."

So, of course then we couldn't leave, because we really wanted to go to the concert. We decided to sit in the grass (in the shade) and wait for the game to end, after which we would go back in and attend the concert. We went to his car anyway to get some water, and when we got back to the bus, a car had just pulled up. A few people were getting out with suitcases, and one of them was Mike Weaver (he really wasn't in the bus like we thought). So Jeff walked right up to him, said hi, taked for a few minutes and asked if we could take a picture with him. He was really nice, said "man" and "dude" a lot, told us about the concert and posed for a picture. Unfortunately, Jeff's camera went on the fritz the next day, and the memory card got erased.

We sat around for another hour or so and went to the concert. Since it was not advertised much, only about 300 people were there, which was really nice. They wheeled a stage back by the home run fence, and all the people stood or sat in the outfield. The concert was very loud (they brought huge speakers) and very good. They played a few of the really upbeat (more fun) songs and several worship songs including my favorite BDW song, "Audience of One." Mike also gave a short gospel message which was very good.

It's funny how secular companies plan these family days for fun and have no idea how God is glorified by them. A month ago, Jeff and I went to my work's family day which was held at the zoo. It was great to walk around and marvel at the way God created all the different animals, giving them instincts and camoflauge and using such creativity in everything He made. Then at Sunday's activity, which was all about baseball and beer, we got to attend a concert that made much of God in word and song.

Pictures from Our Trip to Indiana

2006-08-02T13:11:00.000-05:00

Hi!

2006-08-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

My apologies to all my faithful blog readers who are mad at me for not writing anything in FOREVER....

I'm still alive and all, but pretty busy. I am now working in a different position at my job which is really nice. My official title is "Practice Group Clerk" which means I do stuff like file documents, create new files and work on the Benefits Group's website. It's all pretty interesting, and I'm learning a lot. But it also means I don't have any downtime (like I did in my last position) to find cool stuff on the web, write blog entries and read other people's blogs.

Here's other stuff that has happened lately:

I found out that Nathan and Jessica are having a boy, and he's due Nov. 28.

Jeff and I went on a trip to Indiana to visit his grandma. I'll post pictures when I'm done writing this. We're still dating and really seeking what God would have for us in the (near?) future. Sorry, Heidi, no news yet!

Two of my cousins, Holly and John (they are siblings), got married last month. I enjoyed both of their weddings, and have thought about weddings a lot lately. Jeff and I have talked quite a bit about how we would want our potential wedding to be. We're both highly in favor of not doing most of the "normal" stuff, especially the meaningless things, and only having things in the ceremony that are really important.

So, I hope I satisfied the curiosity of all the people who leave me messages like "Where on earth are you?!?" Don't worry, I'll be sure to post if any BIG events happen, like, I don't know, getting engaged or something.

The Beast

2006-06-07T09:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday there seemed to be quite a bit of hype over the day being 6/6/06. Purgatorio had a post on it, and one commenter posted the following which I thought was quite funny:

From Sam Storms newsletter:
666.0000: Number of the High Precision Beast
0.666: Number of the Millibeast
6, uh…what? : Number of the Blonde Beast
1-666: Area code of the Beast
00666: Zip code of the Beast
$665.95: Retail price of the Beast
$699.25: Price of the Beast plus 5% state sales tax
$769.95: Price of the Beast with all accessories and replacement soul
$656.66: Wal-Mart price of the Beast
$646.66: Next week’s Wal-Mart price of the Beast
Phillips 666: Gasoline of the Beast
Route 666: Way of the Beast
666 F: Oven temperature for roast Beast
666k: Retirement plan of the Beast
666 mg: Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast
6.66%: 5-year CD interest rate at First Beast of Hell National Bank, $666 minimum deposit
Lotus 6-6-6: Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66: Word Processor of the Beast
i66686: CPU of the Beast
666i: BMW of the Beast
DSM-666 (revised): Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
668: Next door neighbor of the Beast
667: Prime Beast
999: Australian Beast

Jason and Jodi Walter

2006-06-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I got to attend Jason and Jodi's wedding in New Mexico. I am so thankful that when my friends get married, they strive to have Christ-centered weddings and not couple-centered ones. Since the whole point of marriage is to display Christ, a wedding should accomplish that also. I felt priviledged to be a part of this wedding and to witness the covenant that Jason and Jodi made with each other. I know God will use their marriage to display Himself to the world and to teach both of them more about Himself.

My latest adventure

2006-06-04T17:31:00.000-05:00

Here you go, Heidi; I know how much you wanted to see this picture.

I had never been on a motorcycle until last Saturday, but I really enjoyed it. It is a very strange feeling to be cruising down the highway with no walls around you, but it was fun (and very windy).

Divine Drama

2006-05-31T11:28:00.000-05:00

I just started a book by Michael Horton called A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship. In the second chapter he summarizes a common postmodern mindset and compares it to a movie script. Instead of man recognizing his place in God's master drama of the universe, he wants to star in his own impromptu monologue. Here's a great quote from pg. 34:

While today our identities are more the scattered clippings of ideal images packaged and marketed to us in a barrage of advertising masquerading as entertainment, the "self" who is rendered in the biblical drama of redemption is a solid self only because he or she belongs to a story that is much larger than oneself. In the former, the identities of others (usually celebrities) are consumed and made a part of my life and identity. In the latter, the real identities (not images) of the many biblical characters become the context in which my life makes sense. It is here where strangers and aliens finally belong to God and become part of his family throughout history. In the former, even God himself is "appropriated," drawn into our script, ending in futililty, while in the latter, even the most villainous character can be drawn into the divine drama by the director as a new character.

Because this book was copyrighted in 2002, reality TV (which is probably America's current main type of entertainment) had not nearly reached the level that it has in the last couple years, and it did not have the impact that it has today. Michael Horton could not have had a full understanding of where it would lead, though entertainment was already headed that way. His perception of what was happening is accurate, and things are so much worse now. Today it has truly caused people to think that they can be the next celebrity and star in a TV show if only Hollywood would discover them. It makes them completely focused on themselves, and they spend endless amounts of time and money making themselves appear better.

I love how he summarizes the attitude we should have. We should recognize that we are part of the grand drama of the universe. God has chosen to use both those of us that love Him and those who don't to make His name great and His glory shine. And, by God's grace, we can even have joy in this fact. Christians get to enjoy making much of Him forever. This gives true meaning to life.

There is no situation in life where you can make plans and arrange things and just add God in later. He writes the script and directs the drama. Therefore, He is the foundation upon which we build everything that we do in life. I pray that God would increasingly show me my role in His master plan, and use me to bring glory to His name forever.

Donner Expedition - Chapter 6

2006-05-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

After hearing that we had potentially been chased by a criminal, we were more scared than ever. But, the policeman assured us that the man did not have a white SUV of any kind, and that he would know if the guy had gone to the campground because the man's tracking device would have alerted the police. Next he explained a few facts about fires to us. Apparently a fire that has been completely doused can come back. I guess firefighters experience that all the time. Who knew?

Then the policeman offered to go back to the campground with us so we could get our stuff. Of course we would not have gone back in the dark alone (who cares what we had left there when our lives were in danger?), but we felt fine about going back with him. He also wanted to see if there were any signs of our "visitor."

When we got there, we found everthing exactly as we had left it. The dishes we had cooked with were still on the picnic table. Our tent was zipped, and nothing had been moved. And there were no footprints anywhere in the muddy ground. We now fully understood just how much of the experience had been in our imaginations. And it all started because of the fire (which had completely died down at this point). My uncle laughed at us, and then he asked the policeman to turn on his siren as he left! Not funny!

So, the moral of the story is this: Don't do something if you are clueless about it. We were clueless about camping and failed to follow the advice we had received (especially "camp near a family"). The result was disaster. We were able to still have somewhat of a camping experience by using someone's yard, but that's not exactly what we had set out to do.

In the end, we did not have a sucessful trip by which we proved to our guy friends how much we could do. But we did have lots of memories and one heck of a story.

One Month!

2006-05-09T14:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, May 8th, marked one month of dating Jeff. I was at work all day and had to go straight to church for my last Greek class. Jeff and I exchanged e-mail congratulations, but I didn't think I would see him that day. When Kerry and I got home around 9, I walked into the house not thinking anything was unusual. Then I saw Jeff in my dining room holding a rose and waiting to congratulate me in person. I gasped (no screaming, Marissa) and was so happy just to see him there. He's so sweet!

Snapshirt

2006-04-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

This is a word cloud based on my blog that was generated by this website. Here is their definition:

A word cloud is a visual depiction of content (words) used in a body of text. The word clouds we use at snapshirts.com are arranged alphabetically and depict more frequently used words in progressively larger fonts.
The Custom line uses your own personal website to make word clouds. For Custom word clouds, our software analyzes your weblog and presents some of your most frequently used words. You can edit this list as much or as little as you like, it's completely customizable. If you have a weblog, click on Custom and give it a try.

So these are the words that occur most on my blog. I will do it again someday and see if it's changed any. Hopefully "God" and "glory" will continue to stay at the top of the list (well, stay in the largest font anyway).

Update on the Relationship

2006-04-24T12:41:00.000-05:00

Just so ya know, the reason that I have not written much about my relationship with Jeff on here is NOT that I don't have much to say or that I don't want to write about it. The reason is that I have way too much to say and will not be able to stop. Phone calls are so much easier for this sort of thing. But here's a few random thoughts:

1.) It has now been a month and a day since our first coffee date. It seems like yesterday and like forever at the same time. I know him so well in just those few weeks because we have talked about almost everything. As far as I know, we have both been completely honest with each other about how we think about all those issues. Therefore, in just a month (and really we decided this even before now) we can both say that we hope to marry each other.

2.) I love looking back and seeing how God has sovereignly worked to get us to this point. Jeff and I can point to several things that had to happen for us to be where we are. We say things like, "If you hadn't asked that question..." "If you hadn't sent that e-mail..." "If I hadn't had this conversation with that person..." "Good thing you didn't hear me say I was kidding..." and there's so much more. Of course we don't look at those as random things that fortunately happened, but as little stuff that God used to begin this relationship.

3.) Each phase of life has so many new things I need to learn. Now I am striving to learn how to love someone not for my sake or his, but for God's. Sometimes I feel that my love for God is so small that it doesn't make sense for Him to give me something that could distract me. But, as Jeff pointed out yesterday, God is not tempting me by giving me a boyfriend. He is blessing me, He is teaching me more about Himself, and He is giving me a new way in which to glorify Him. As with any good thing, Satan can use it to tempt and distract me, but the One in me is greater than him.

4.) It's cool how every couple's relationship is so different. Some people have huge struggles or some big crisis that just defines everything else. Others have an easier, more peaceful time with it. Ours has had very little to struggle through so far, but enough to make it a good story. Seriously, our first date was the most awkward, uncomfortable night of my life. I have never experienced so much of 2 opposite feelings at once. I was so nervous and almost didn't think I could do it, and at the same time I really wanted to go on the date, get to know him and consider the possibility that I would like him. So as crazy as that night was, I wouldn't change it if I could. Now I can look back on all that nervousness and laugh...

5.) A couple months ago, I thought about all the things I have known I want or need in a husband and boiled it down to this: Godly Leader. Jeff is both of those things, though imperfectly. We've talked about Biblical manhood and womanhood, and how we can each live that out both now and when we are married.

6.) Ultimately, I am dating Jeff because he is a Godly guy that I think I want to marry. But along with that, I just plain like him. He's so sweet to me, he makes me laugh, he is kind and thoughtful, and I just love being with him. Oh, and he's really cute too, in case you couldn't tell from the picture.

7.) I am falling in love! I mean that in the most God-centered, logical, Word-based way possible of course. :)

Well, I knew this would get long really fast. I'm sure there is more to come, but that's it for now.

Donner Expedition - Chapter Five

2006-04-20T10:12:00.000-05:00

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

As soon as Kerry said the car was a white Jeep, I was sure we were about to die. Obviously the guy who had been fishing had seen us earlier, had been to our campsite while we were gone, and was now chasing us down the highway. Not only did the car follow me through the turn into Silver Bay, it also followed me the next time I turned. Now I was thinking, "Do I really want to lead this psycho to my grandparents' house?" The next time I turned, the Jeep went straight, but I almost expected the guy to whip around the whole block, block our car, and kill us all. We all felt like we were in some sick horror movie.

After that last turn, I did not see the Jeep again and felt safe enough to go to the house. Kerry, Joy and I barged inside panting, crying and shaking. My grandma, grandpa, uncle and cousin all stared at us while we told them what had just happened. At that point, we decided we really wanted to call Jason 'cause now we had a real story to tell. We were able to get ahold of him, and he could hardly believe what had happened. He was glad we were safe, and so were we.

We talked over the whole incident again, trying to determine which parts of the story were facts and which were our speculations. The blazing fire was a fact, and since we could not explain that, it freaked us out. The tail-gating Jeep could have been a coincidence, but we weren't really sure. We had seen a white Jeep that day, and this one seemed to have been following us all the way from the campsite to Silver Bay. We also knew that we needed to go back to the campground at some point to get all our stuff, but there was no way we were going to do that alone at night. My grandma suggested that we go talk to the police, just in case something dangerous or bad had actually happened.

We explained the whole thing to the policeman who said, "I don't want to scare you guys, but I should let you know that there was a criminal sex offender who just got out of jail and was released in this area recently. He is on a tracking device, so we should know if he has gone somewhere he shouldn't. But you should know that his last offence was committed at a campground. I don't remember if it's the one where you were or another in the area."

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Surprise

2006-04-18T16:15:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, my dear friends had a surprise party for my 24th birthday. I went to church with Jeff and Kerry, and then Jeff and I went to my grandparents' house for Easter dinner and a family birthday party. On the way back, we visited Jeff's parents and stopped at Centennial Lakes Park. Jeff gave me a beautiful wooden music box that he made, and we walked around the lake and talked for a little while. Then he took me back to my house. I walked in the door and found a bunch of friends yelling, "Surprise!"

Here's me coming through the door:

Kerry planned this whole party, partly while she was out of town for a week. I've had two surprise parties before. One I didn't expect, and one I did because someone had made me suspicious enough to know it was coming. This time, I never had a clue. Good job, guys and thank you!

Jeff and Christine

2006-04-17T11:33:00.000-05:00

News

2006-04-10T11:21:00.000-05:00

Well, for the 6 of you that read my blog (and most already know this anyway 'cause I've talked to you recently), I have some exciting news:
As of April 8, 2006, I am dating! His name is Jeff, and I really, really like him. Sorry, I don't have any pictures yet.

I have to say, it's really neat when God just sort-of drops something in your lap that brings you joy. He really does delight in giving good gifts to his children. I don't know yet what He intends to do with this new relationship, but I want to enjoy every minute of it to the glory of God.

Donner Expedition - Chapter Four

2006-04-06T10:20:00.000-05:00

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

At about the same time all three of us realized the following "fact": Someone had messed with our campsite and was probably still there! But who could have done that? The only possibilities in my mind were my uncle (maybe to play a joke on us?) or that guy in the white Jeep who had been fishing. No one else knew we were there. Of course we immediately assumed the worst, and we certainly weren't going to take our chances! I backed up the car, got back on the path, and sped out of that campground. I think Kerry was screaming "Drive! Drive!" in my ear the whole time.

I got back to the highway to head for my grandparents' little town. All three of us were scared out of our minds. The road was covered with mist from the recent storm, and it was rather difficult to see. Suddenly Kerry observed that there was a car basically tailgating us down this foggy, winding road. I hadn't even noticed what was behind me because I was so worried about driving. I tried speeding up a little to get away from the vehicle, but he sped up too. I slowed down hoping he would pass me, but of course the conditions made that a ridiculous idea anyway. The car stayed right behind me no matter what I did.

Of course we all assumed (our imaginations were running wild at this point) that whoever was driving the car was the same person we had just "seen" at our campsite. So I said to Kerry, "Maybe it's my uncle. We're about to turn off the highway into Silver Bay, so you look and see if it is his car." Of course I was hoping the car would NOT follow us into Silver Bay but continue down the highway.

As I approached the turn, I put on my right blinker, and so did the car! I was praying, "Please, God, let it be my uncle's little station wagon!" If that were the case, I would have nearly killed him (J/K) for scaring us so badly, but at least I would know that we were safe. So, I slowed down, turned, and said, "Ok, see if it's my uncle." Kerry yelled, "No! It's a white Jeep!"

Donner Expedition - Chapter Three

2006-03-29T09:40:00.000-06:00

Chapter One

Chapter Two

We grabbed the food and went into the tent to eat it. The rain got worse and worse, and even came into the tent in one place. But we just moved stuff around, made a video clip of the situation, and tried to enjoy being stuck in there. Eventually the downpour faded to sprinkling, and the rain stopped altogether. By the time the storm was over, it was completely dark and we had no fire. The rain had doused it, and we were kicking ourselves for not storing any of the firewood inside the tent or car. Ooops.

Kerry and Joy wanted to call home, and I wanted to call my grandparents in case they had been worrying about us through that storm. Unfortunately, we were too far out in the middle of nowhere to get a cell phone signal. So we got into the car and drove a couple of miles down the highway toward my grandparents' town. We got into the phone's range, pulled over, and made our calls. Then we realized that we should try to get ahold of Jason. Most of our friends were travelling, but he was still at college. We wanted to brag to him about all the things we had done so far. We tried to reach him, but he had changed rooms and there seemed to be no one in the dorm that we could ask. So we gave up and headed back to the campground.

We entered and followed the winding road to where we had left everything. It was totally dark and very misty, and the only light came from our headlights. As we rounded the last corner, we saw light - a fire to be exact. My first thought was, "Yay, we have neighbors." Then I realized that was our campsite and our fire! The fire was not only there, it was huge and blazing, overflowing the fire pit. Just then Kerry saw a shadow pass behind the fire, and she was pretty sure it was a person.

BABY!

2006-03-27T11:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I found out that my brother Nathan and sister-in-law Jessica are having a baby! I get to be an aunt right around Thanksgiving. I'm very excited, though nothing like my Mom. For example, I did not scream or burst into tears. :) But I'm so glad that God is going to bless them in this way. Yay!

Why did Moses veil his face?

2006-03-20T11:38:00.000-06:00

Have you ever read a verse or a passage and realized that it meant something different than what you had always thought? For me, that happens a lot because I grew up reading and memorizing the KJV and only in the last few years have been exposed to the NAS and the ESV. I occasionally find verses that I have understood wrongly because of awkward wording or words that now have different meanings. This also happens because I have read passages lightly but never studied them.

Anyway, the verses in 2 Corinthians about Moses veiling his face got at lot more clear and a lot more confusing for me the other night (Kerry and I actually stayed up until 2 trying to figure it out). I always thought that when Moses saw God (well, His back parts), his face shone (reflecting God's glory), and he put on a veil because people could not bear to look at it. Then, the glory eventually faded, and he could uncover his face. This is not exactly what happened.

Exodus 34 NAS
29It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him.
30So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
31Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
32Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the LORD had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.
33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
34But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded,
35the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

So, it is not that the people were unable to look at his shining face. Verse 31 shows that he spoke to them with a shining, un-veiled face. He put the veil on after he was done talking to them. Apparently, the glow faded after time. Then, every time he went in to the tent outside the camp (Ex. 33:7-11), his face must have glowed again (kinda like re-chargeable batteries? Glow-in-the-dark stars?), the people saw it again, and then he would cover it up.

Now, you have to go back to this passage to understand 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 and the surrounding passages.

2 Cor. 3:12-18 NAS
12Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,
13and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.
14But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
15But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;
16but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

This passage says (v. 13) that Moses did not want the Israelites to see the last bits of glory fade from his face. This is consistent with the Exodus account that says the Israelites did see his face for awhile, and Moses covered it as it faded. But then there is this verse just before:

1 Cor. 3:7 NAS
7But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,
8how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?

Here's the ESV too:

7Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

The "such" in the ESV leads you to think that his face was shining so much that no one could look at it. But that is the wrong sense of the word; and it can be left out. The NAS doesn't use it which is better, but the verse still seems to say that the Israelites couldn't bear to look at his bright face. Now Paul's point in verses 7-8 is that the Spirit's ministry is far superior to Moses' ministry. But he still wouldn't contradict himself...

Anyway, what I see in verses 12-18 is that the veil over Moses' face and the veil over the Old Covenant are the same. Somehow they both prevent people from seeing the truth that the OC was temporary and fading, therefore a New one was necessary.

But notice the contrast between us (posessers of the NC) and Moses. "We are bold not like Moses who veiled his face." So here's the big questions: Why did Moses veil his face? And was that right or wrong? Here's my potential conclusion, but it still has difficulties:

When God revealed Himself to Moses and made Moses' face reflect His glory, He was giving validation to both Moses and the Law. The people saw that and were in awe. However, God designed for that glory on Moses' face to fade away as a picture of what was going to happen to the law. For some reason, Moses veiled his face and prevented the people from seeing the glory fade. In the same way, there is a veil over the Old Covenant to an unbeliever who esteems the Law. He, just like most Israelites, is not able to see that the Law fades.

So that still leaves the 2 questions: Why? Was Moses embarassed that the glory was fading (hence the contrast with being bold)? Was he scared that the people would doubt his ministry if they saw the glory fade (also a timid thing to do)? Or, did he do it on purpose so the people would not see the truth that the Law was meant to fade? The answer to this question would then help answer the next: Was that right or wrong? Paul seems to call him timid and in a negative way. But maybe God wanted Moses to conceal certain things.

In spite if the confusion in this passage, the main truth shines out beautifully: Our ministry, the New Covenant that Christ purchased, is infinitely more glorious than the one Moses administered which faded away. Just as God makes clear the truth of the Old Covenant through Christ, we can clearly preach the truth of Christ trusting Him to change the dark hearts of unbelievers.

Donner Expedition - Chapter Two

2006-03-19T19:23:00.000-06:00

Click here to read Chapter One

Well, we set off for the North Shore early Sunday morning. At around 9:30am we started driving around each little town that we passed through to see if there was a good church about to have a service. Each time either we had missed the service or there was no church that we would have felt right about attending (for example: Church of the Immaculate Conception).

Finally, we hit a town at 11:00 and decided that was our last hope. We found a tiny Baptist church that started their morning service at 11. Of course we went and were blessed by the worship, preaching and fellowship of that little church. We stopped at a park for lunch and had NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE #1.

We got into the car to leave the park, I started it, and we started to put on our seatbelts. Suddenly the engine started revving and I had no idea why. None of us knew what to do. Suddenly, it stopped, and we realized what had happened. In an attempt to reach her seatbelt, Joy had planted one foot on the floor and the other on the gas pedal. So, then we looked in front of us and tried to imagine what would have happened if the car had been in drive (I guess then I would have had my foot on the brake so we probably still would have been safe). But we would have taken off and then crashed into either a tree or a building. So, we were thankful that our lives had been spared.

We reached Silver Bay in the late afternoon. My grandparents loaned us their cell phone in case we had an emergency, and my Uncle Gary, who was staying with my grandparents, offered to show us to a nearby campground that he really liked (he grew up there so he knew where all the campgrounds were).

As we set up the tent (the picture on the top is a joke; we really did figure it out just fine), we noticed only one other person at the campground. [Note: At this point we had already broken Matt's rule, "Camp near a family," but we had no choice.] It was a guy fishing in the Baptism River which runs along that particular campground. He had a white SUV, I think it was a Jeep, and left before dark.

About an hour before dark, we finished the tent, and Joy built a fire to cook our supper. Just as the water finished cooking our noodles, it began to rain.

M & M's Commercial

2006-03-17T15:25:00.000-06:00

Ok Kerry, this is just for you.

Today Kerry and I were talking about being analytical (for an example read "Random Pet Peeve"). I gave her another example of something incorrect that I thought was annoying, but she had never seen it. So here it is:

The M & M's Commercial from just before the Oscars were aired
(click on "Tip #1 Work those Lips")

Now I don't know much about science, but I am pretty sure that Yellow's lips would not hit the camera. It should be his back! You know, if you blow up a balloon and let it go, the part where the air is escaping will be opposite the part that hits the wall. Oh, never mind. I know, I know, who thinks of this stuff? I'm so weird...

Strange Sign

2006-03-15T10:55:00.000-06:00

Hmmm... Kingdom Parable depicted on a highway sign?

(See Matthew 3:12)

I found this on Highway 94 in ND.

I wonder if Purgatorio would like this one...

Trip to ND

2006-03-13T20:39:00.000-06:00

This weekend I got to visit my dear friends Nathan and Nicole at their home in North Dakota. I went to see their new baby, Mishael and to spend some quality time with them. I got to hold Mishael a lot, learn more about baptism and covenant theology, and drink lots of coffee. I loved seeing their life and ministry there, and fellowshipping in Christ with them and also with Dave (their pastor) and Katya. We all went to college together and share lots of memories. But more than that, we share our passion for God. Dave has some dreams and ideas about ministry to unreached peoples -- definitely something to start praying about.

Here's Mishael Calvin. He's so precious, and I enjoyed every minute with him. He makes so many cute faces which I tried to photograph, but by the time I turned the camera on, he was usually done. Oh well.

I brought Mishael his first pair of cowboy boots.

Just before I left, I got to be a part of Mishael's baptism. Nathan explained his reasons for doing it, and we spent some time praying for the Pitchfords - specifically for God to save Mishael in His time. Even though I do not see this issue the same way Nathan does, I was so glad to see it happen. Nathan followed his convictions from Scripture, and he did it from faith giving glory to God. Those on the other side can do no more or less, and love must abound always.

Austen Quotes

2006-03-10T11:23:00.000-06:00

Right before the movie Pride and Prejudice came out, I bought a volume containing all 7 of Jane Austen's books. I read P&P, and then decided to read the other 4 stories that I had not read already. Austen has such insight into how people (both the sensible and the insane) think. Here's a few quality quotes for your enjoyment:

From Mansfield Park:

(Irrational female says, "I am really not tired, which I almost wonder at; for we must have walked at least a mile in this wood. Do you not think we have?")
"Not half a mile," was his sturdy answer; for he was not yet so much in love as to measure distance, or reckon time, with feminine lawlessness.

From Northanger Abbey:

(Catherine is in love and waiting for the guy to show up, but he does not. She is introduced to a new friend, "and almost forgot Mr. Tilney while she talked to Miss Thorpe.")
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

Man only can be aware of the insensibilty of man towards a new gown. It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire.

(Catherine wants to dance with Mr. Tilney, but Mr. Thorpe keeps asking her first. She is desperately trying to avoid him.)
Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment, for every young lady has at some time or other known the same agitation. All have been, or at least believed themselves to be, in danger from the pursuit of some one whom they wished to avoid; and all have been anxious for the attentions of some one whom they wished to please.

(Catherine wishes she could participate in a conversation with Mr. Tilney and others about drawing, but she knows nothing about it.)
She was heartily ashamed of her ignorance. A misplaced shame. Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she can have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.

"I do not understand you."
"Then we are on very unequal terms, for I understand you perfectly well."
"Me? - yes; I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible."
"Bravo! - an excellent satire on modern language."

From Persuasion:

How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!

From Pride and Prejudice:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Should Women Lead Worship?

2006-03-08T16:00:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, I e-mailed Bob Kauflin, worship leader at Covenant Life, asking him what he thinks about women leading worship. I am fine with leading for kids or playing/singing on a team, but I do not feel right about being the worship leader in a mixed group of adults. My question concerned whether leading worship qualifies as having authority over men. So I asked him for his thoughts on the subject and he sent me this very helpful answer:

Christine,
Great question. At some point I'll speak to this on the blog. I appreciate your asking the question. Here's something from a CBMW pamphlet, as well as some thoughts I've put together before.

Excerpt From Women in Ministry By Randy Stinson (Pamphlet from CBMW)

"For a woman to serve as worship leader or music minister in a church is a more difficult issue. Part of the difficulty in making application here lies in the lack of uniform agreement among various church traditions regarding the role and function of one who serves in such a ministry. It is certainly possible for a woman to serve in a position in which she leads in congregational singing during a church worship service. However, it would depend on how that particular church understands the degree of authority that she holds over the assembled congregation and the extent to which she provides instruction. Is her position understood as one of authority over the congregation similar to a pastor/elder? Does she provide doctrinal commentary between songs or other doctrinal instruction to the choir or congregation? Does her leading involve the exercising of authority over others or, rather, the providing of leadership regarding timing, tempo, music, etc.? Does she direct the church to a particular song in a hymnal and invite those assembled to praise the Lord, or does she engage in more biblical exhortation like a pastor? Churches ought to take these kinds of questions into consideration when attempting to apply biblical principles to this ministry position."

Here are some of my thoughts: The question of whether or not a woman can "lead worship" is determined by two things. 1) How you understand what Scripture says about male leadership; and 2) how you understand the role of the worship leader. Our culture has worked overtime to persuade us that there is no difference between male and female leadership, or at least that men and women can lead in any situation. I think the Bible disagrees. Here are some relevant Scripture.
1 Cor 14:34-35 "women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
1 Tim 2:11-15 "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing--if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."
Titus 1:6 "An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient."

The bible clearly teaches that the role of Pastor is reserved for those who meet the qualifications laid out in 1Tim 3. Since one of these requirements is to have a wife as your spouse, it is impossible for a woman to meet these qualifications. Furthermore, the bible commands women to teach other women and not to have authority over a man in the church. We believe that the role of women in the church should be as follows: 1. Teaching other women. 2.Teaching children. 3. Setting a godly example for the younger women in the Lord. 4. Any position where she is clearly under the direct authority and submission to a man.
I see the role of the worship leader as fulfilling at least four functions: leading, pastoring, teaching, and prophesying. Only prophesying is specifically a male/female gift. The others are defined as male functions in a mixed gathering. Of course, church environments exist where the leadership does not want the worship leader teaching, pastoring, etc., or at least they do not function in this way. Perhaps a pastor is more involved in that portion of the meeting, or perhaps the "worship leader" is more of a"singing leader," or perhaps the comments made by the leader are confined to more basic exhortative-type comments that differ little from the prophetic. In those situations the male/female distinctions are minimized. However, in our understanding, there would always be a tension between what a leader could do, and possible misunderstanding regarding a woman's leadership role in the church. Of course, a woman can lead worship in a women's meeting, or in children's ministry, or can be a major contributor as part of a worship leading team. It also seems possible that a woman could lead worship in a small group, where the leader is exercising directional and pastoral authority. Hope that's helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on this.

Bob Kauflin
Sovereign Grace Ministries
www.worshipmatters.com
www.sovgracemin.org

So, my conviction is the same. I won't do it in a mixed group of adults. That got really sticky in third grade SS last year. I was leading for the kids, but there were men (small group leaders) present. And I tried to give as much Biblical/theological teaching as the kids could understand. So I wasn't actually teaching the men, but they were there... Yeah, that was a struggle.

I guess it's not wrong for a woman to lead in the sense of being the songleader without doing any teaching, but how do you know when you cross that line? What about praying? That can come pretty close to teaching. But women can pray and prophesy... But should she cover her head? Ahhh! So much to figure out...

I'm all about women having a complementarian (helping, submitting, not leading) role on a worship team. It's hard to say "no" to leading because sometimes there is just no guy to lead. So then is it better to have no worship? Oh, if I could only play the drums; no one ever expects the drummer to lead.

Random Pet Peeve

2006-03-07T09:57:00.000-06:00

Bad logic is annoying. Especially when it occurs in advertising. I mean, why do people buy things that are advertised with logical fallacies?

Every day I cut through Marshall Field's (like Dayton's or Macy's) to get to work. For some reason, the managers chose to put the men's department on the skyway level. That's probably because they know women will shop even if it's not convenient. They will go out of their way (to the other 4 floors of women's clothes) to shop. But men probably won't. Therefore, they put the men's stuff on the floor that gets the most traffic.

Anyway, today there was this huge advertisement for a men's cologne called "Unforgivable."

Sure, that's a risque name that implies desire, conquest, heartbreak and, well, never mind. But just under the name was this quote by the designer:

"A life without passion is unforgivable." - Sean John

Remember logical deduction, syllogisms, "if a=b and b=c then a=c," etc... ?

According to Sean John:

A life without passion = unforgivable

unforgivable = my hot, new cologne

A life without passion = my hot, new cologne

Hmmm... that doesn't sound like a winner to me. I thought the point was that a life of passion was unforgivable. I guess not.

I'm so not buying any!

Donner Expedition - Chapter One

2006-03-03T20:55:00.000-06:00

One of my funniest memories is the attempted camping trip I took after college with two of my friends. So, I thought that I would, in a series of posts, tell that funny story.

One day, Kerry, Joy and I made a very foolish decision. We decided that, right after Kerry and I graduated, we would go camping. We planned to include our friend Heidi who has tons of camping experience, but she was not able to come. I had never been camping, and Kerry and Joy had a little experience. But we decided that we could figure it out, and planned to drive up to northern Minnesota along Lake Superior and camp for 3 days. We chose that area because it is beautiful, it has lots of places to camp, and my grandparents live there (you know, in case we needed anything). We hoped the weather would be warm by mid-May, and we stocked up on what we would need. I had been given a tent for Christmas, and Kerry and Joy's mom loaned us things like a kettle and a lantern.

During the planning stages, we received a lot of advice and opposition from some friends. Jason did not think we would make it and said to me, "You three are going camping? Could you please videotape that? I'm pretty sure it will be the funniest thing I have ever seen." Matt didn't have a whole lot of faith in us either, but he kindly provided us with a list of pointers. He included things like, "Camp near a family" and "If you don't have a hammer, you can pound your tent pegs in with a rock." Andrew told me the whole thing reminded him of the ill-fated Donner party, so I named the whole thing "The Donner Expedition."

Well, graduation came and went, and we set off in that very packed car. We all had to ride in the front because it was full of sleeping bags, other camping stuff, and lots of Kerry and Joy's stuff from college. Oh, one more important thing is that Kerry had been given a nice camera for graduation that took short videos. So we promised our friends that we would document the whole thing and show them how well we did. Little did we know what the "documentary" would really show. . .

New Covenant Theology

2006-03-01T10:47:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I finished reading Tablets of Stone and the History of Redemption by John Reisinger. In some ways, this book is not very well written. Reisinger seems to have quite an attitude towards Covenant Theologians (Why can't they just admit they're wrong and see things my way?! I mean, anyone who reads the Bible would!), and he is incredibly repetitive (he frequently repeats things he just said).

But, overall, his book summarizes something I have been learning over the last year or so (about the nature and function of the Mosaic Law). And if he accurately represents New Covenant Theology, I guess that's my position too. I know I can't say that I am a Dispentationalist or a Covenant Theologian; both have major issues that I don't think are Biblical. But, though I had heard of NCT and thought it sounded pretty good, I never really looked into it deeply. Now, I think it is the most accurate of the 3 positions because it disagrees with the other 2 in just the right places.

I started thinking about the relationship of the law to Christians when I took a Greek class on Galatians at my church. I came to believe that Christ fulfulled and did away with everything in the Sinai Covenant, including the 10 Commandments (which make up the covenant document for the whole thing). Therefore, there is no third use of the law ("moral still applies while civil and ceremonial are over"). The law was a covenant made with Israel consisting of terms that resulted in blessing or cursing dependent on whether or not they were kept. I would even say that Christ's death accomplished something for the Jews that it did not for me. He died for the sins of all the elect, but His death also redeemed Israel from the curse of the law. (I'm still not sure what that is. At first I thought the curse of the law was simply being under it, having to obey it, being subject to all its rules and penalties, etc... Then, maybe it is simply death (physical). Of course people already died before the law, but disobeying the law could hasten that. Another possibility is that the curse is exile. The ultimate result of Israel's lawbreaking was their exile (going into captivity) from the promised land. This position would see Christ's descent into hell as taking the curse of exile, providing for Israel's future re-owning of the land.)

Anyway, I fouond this book by Reisinger and thought, "Whoa! Someone agrees with me!" That's always comforting when you start thinking you might be a heretic. Turns out, this view of the law is a major part of the NCT position. Though NCT has nowhere near the literature and support of the other 2 (well, Dispensationalism not so much), people have defined what it is. I found a NCT Confession which seems really good. I did not read everythng yet, and it may have a few problems (like under "Purpose of Marraige, #4 should definitely be #1), I think I agree with the position it defines.

So, this book helped confirm what I have been thinking, even though it does have some problems. I think he proves his point well about what the 10 Commandments are, what they did, and how they relate (or don't) to Christians today. The Scripture examples he gives are thorough, and of course it is all so clear! Now I need to read a book from the other side...

Will you marry me?

2006-02-27T12:44:00.000-06:00

Recently I have been thinking a lot about marriage. Not because of anyone in particular, just marriage in general. It all started last Saturday at 20somethings. A normal evening consists of our main meeting time, and then a time when part of the group goes to someone's house for some informal hang-out time. This particular night, the conversation ended up on marriage, specifically Al Mohler's view of it. Two of the guys in the group had recently listened to a message by Al Mohler (I listened to it a couple days later), encouraging young people to get married rather than live in continued, intentional singleness (with the exception of someone who has a gift of celibacy). He said that too many Christians are refusing to grow up, preferring singleness to the responsibility of marriage and children. He gave many dangers that this causes as well as God-glorifying reasons to get married, and really encouraged his listeners, especially guys, to move towards getting married.

After we all kinda understood and agreed with the gist of the message, one girl said, "Well if the boys would just do something..." To which one guy replied, "Hey, it goes both ways." And thus began a discussion about what each gender should be doing in order to be "intentional about marraige." Though we all agreed that guys should lead in relationships, some guys seemed to think that there was something (that was never defined) that the girls should be doing. And of course every girl was thinking, "Hey, I haven't turned down any dates lately. What more do you want?" If there really is something that a Godly woman should do, I (and the other girls there) want to know, but I just don't see that Biblically.

The next day, one of the men who teaches Senior High SS was telling me that he encourages teens (with their parents' help) to be intentional about marriage. Now, obviously that looks a little different when you are 16 than when you are 23, but the principles are the same. So I asked him what he thinks girls should be doing. He said pray; make a list of what you are looking for in a husband; determine your beliefs about dating, marriage and parenting; and make life decisions that move in the direction of being married and having a family. I guess I have done all that, and there's nothing left to do but wait on God.

I know girls could err by being career-driven and independent (in a feminist sense). And they can certainly err by being too picky. But I still think the blame lies at the feet of the guys. The only revelation I had over all this was that girls should not be afraid to say that they want to get married. For years I have tried to focus on being content single, desiring only my relationship with Christ, etc... And I would never say (except to close girl friends) "I really want to get married" for fear of sounding desperate or discontent, or looking like I don't believe in the sovereighty of God to make that happen. But I'm not so sure that is necessary. One can be satisfied in Christ while hoping/planning to get married in the (near?) future. So next time someone asks what I want to do in the future, I will tell them the truth.

Evolution, Theology and CCM

2006-02-26T15:18:00.000-06:00

If I was ever to be convinced of the theory of evolution (or maybe of post-millenialism), it would be because of the recent trends in Contemporart Christian Music. I really thing that it is getting better and better -- actually evolving. Now, of course I do not mean all of it. Lots of CCM, past and present, is shallow and sometimes unbiblical. But in the last several years, I have been impressed with several artists who are writing music that is God-centered, theologically rich, and saturated with Scripture. They seem to reflect a Reformed view of salvation and a faith in God's sovereignty. They focus on cherishing Christ and reaching the world with the gospel. This is definitely progress!
Some older groups and artists like Steven Curtis Chapman and the Newsboys have been maturing in their theology and they reflect that in their songs. And there are some newer artists like Chris Tomlin and Mercyme whose songs are worshipful and very deep. Then there is always Caedmon's Call who seems to have consistently over several years produced songs that are full of Scripture and that communicate some pretty profound concepts (some of their songs are just downright weird, too).
One artist whose lyrics have blown me away is Todd Agnew. You can actually find all of the Doctrines of Grace in his songs. For example:

Total depravity

"I was born with no chance of life--
Dead before I took my first breath."

"I cannot believe I'm this dirty;
I'm ashamed to even ask to be clean.
'Cause I can't think of anyone less worthy;
I've nothing to offer or to bring."

"Come ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall.
If you tarry 'till you're better,
You will never come at all."

Election

"You pulled me from the mouth of hell so You could hold me.
You knew You'd save me long before I called Your name."

"But you made me Your child,
And you called me Your own..."

Particular redemption (stated in the positive, like the Bible)

"My Jesus bled and died for my sins..."

"Jesus died for our sins,
His blood washed away these stains."

"Jesus died to give us life --
A little joy in the midst of pain.
He paid your debt in full and you are not guilty..."

Irresistable grace

"You reached down and saved me;
You parted the sea so I could breathe.
You reached down and saved me;
You pulled me from all that was drowning me."

"It's Your kindness, Lord, that leads us to repentance;
Your favor, Lord, is our desire."

"Your love reaches across the miles I raced
To separate me from You.
Your love cradles me like a child when I
Finally reach for You.
Your love's beyond my understanding."

Perseverance of the saints

"I don't know where I turned around
From chasing what I always found completed me --
More than I could dream.
I don't know why I can't remain
Safe here where I always came to meet with you
And you always met with me.
And You're still here waiting.
I fail to see why You'd still be waiting to forgive me
After all that I have done.
But I cannot say that one time I returned and You had turned away;
Your love never fails."

"I wait for Your rain to fall --
The waves of Your grace to wash over me.
I wait for Your rain to fall --
Strange how forgiveness comes so easily
When I call Your name,
And wait for Your rain."

So, if you are sick of songs like, "God believes in YOU!" or songs that are all about your feelings, take heart. God is doing a work in and through many contemporary artists, and we get to benefit from it.

Valentine's Party

2006-02-20T15:56:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, my college/career group (called "20somethings") at church held its second Valentine's party for the widows and widowers that go to Bethlehem. Someone came up with the idea last year, and a few of us had the burden to do it again. We all had such a blessed time talking with saints in our church who have grown in grace much longer than we have. The mad-lib game (see Valentine's mad lib post) was enjoyable, and one team won the prize for funniest story (mostly because of they way the guy read it).
Those of us who planned the party were really praying for a few certain things, and it was neat to see God answer those requests.

Though we wanted many of the people we invited as well as many of the 20somethings to attend, we prayed for God to bring just whom He wanted to come. We only had 7 invited guests, and about 11 people from our group, but the numbers matched well. There were enough of us to do the decorating and serving, and we did not have way more people of one group than the other.
We needed money to buy plates, decorations and flowers to give away, and we told the 20somethings group that we would like to raise about $50. A few people chipped in money, and then someone put $50 in my door with a note designating it for the party. God answered that prayer anonymously.
Finally, we prayed that we would form lasting relationships. When the afternoon ended, I saw a few girls exchanging phone numbers with the ladies that they had met. I also talked to our guest speaker who is involved with the seniors' ministry about opportunities for our groups to do things together in the future.

Our purposes for the party were to bless the widows and widowers by doing something for them, and also to bridge the generation gap (which is especially real in such a big church). By God's grace, He caused both of these desires to become realities.

Joel Osteen

2006-02-13T17:23:00.000-06:00

On Sunday night I watched the pastor of the largest church in this country preach one of his typical messages. I have heard about Joel Osteen, but never actually read his book or listened to him myself. His message was sad and even sickening. Instead of preaching about God, Joel preached about me (or we could substitute any of the other thousands of people that were either present or watching on TV). The sermon consisted of statements all about the congregation: "YOU are loved by God. YOU have potential. God approves YOU. Don't be down on YOURSELF." I would guess he used at least 500 personal pronouns in the half hour that he spoke.

The main point of his message was that since God is for you, you should be for yourself too. He quoted the verse "Love your neighbor as you love yourself" and said, you guessed it, "You cannot love your neighbor until you already have a healthy love for yourself." He constantly glossed over sins calling them "weaknesses" and "mistakes," and said "For every bad thing about you, God sees thousands of good things." He did sort-of contradict this statement later, however, by using the exaple of the prodigal son. "God treats us like the father treated his prodigal son. Instead of looking at all the bad things he had done, the father saw only his choice to return home." So do I have a little sin or a lot? Do I have a little goodness or a lot?

One thing that was sadly missing from his message was the righteousness of Christ. Osteen told me that God approves me (I am even wearing that piece of spiritual armor called the "breastplate of God's approval"), but he never said why. The cross, the perfect Christ, the atonement, and the fact that God sees me in His Son, were not mentioned. On the contrary, he preached that God is seeing the good in me and is therefore approving me.

His style was flawless; he moved from statement to statement without hesitating or checking any notes. But his content was blasphemous. The message included no admiration of the perfection and glory of God, but much fuss over the goodness and potential of man. It would be amazing if God gripped Joel Osteen's heart and caused him to magnify the Creator, not the creation. He has such a following, and would be able to spread that truth to so many people. But until that happens, I am sickened by the harm Osteen is doing to the name of Christ by making Him simply a coach to encourage us in our goodness instead of a perfect Savior who makes us righteous by His loving choice and infinite sacrifice.

Valentine's Mad Lib

2006-02-09T13:08:00.000-06:00

Ok, you've all probably done a mad lib at some point in your life. It's a game where someone says, "give me a noun," "give me a verb," "give me an adjective," etc... Then they read a story from which several key words have been removed. They replace those words with the ones you gave, and it makes the story quite ridiculous and often quite funny. So this is a Valentine's mad lib. The twist is this: instead of deciding on words yourself, you use those little conversation hearts (that taste like chalk) in the blanks. I made this for a Valentine's party I am helping to plan, and I hope it will be fun.

So, if you want to try it, go get a little box of conversation hearts and see where they might fit. Here's the story:

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful peasant girl named ______ who lived in a cottage in the middle of the woods. One day, a handsome prince rode by and saw her in her garden. He stopped and said to her, “______.” Shocked that anyone important would be riding in her woods, the girl answered, “______.” The prince immediately fell in love with her and was determined to marry her someday. He visited the girl’s cottage every day, and said many romantic things to her like “______,” “______,” and “______.” He told the girl that she was very _____, and that she was undeniably the ______est _______ he had ever known. He knew that she was his ______, and he wanted to give her ______.

In spite of all this attention, the girl remained cold and unaffected. When the prince came to talk to her, she usually replied, “______” or “______.” The prince was certainly not ______ enough for her, and he would never be her ______.

One day, the prince decided that he could bear this no longer. If she would not love him back, today would be his last visit. He approached her cottage and shouted something he had never dared to say before: “______!” Astonished, the girl replied, “______,” and ran into his arms. They soon were married and lived happily ever after.

I think I will have a rule that you can change the posession of the hearts. For example, if the heart says "my love," you can say "his" or "her" instead of "my."

Purgatorio

2006-02-07T11:53:00.000-06:00

I have waited too long to add this blog to my list. It is called Purgatorio, and it is written by one of the worship leaders at Bethlehem. It is brilliant, hillarious and always surprising.
If you read this post about liturgical bingo, read this post which is the same thing, only Bethlehem style.

You've got to be kidding me...

2006-01-26T15:29:00.000-06:00

...culottes are in style!
I've seen these in stores, at work, and on the girls in my Jr. High Sunday School class. They're called "gauchos," but many of them are just like culottes. Boy, I went to Christian school about 10 years too early. When I needed them for gym, camp, etc..., my mom usually made them because no one sold them.
Next hot fashion trend: JUMPERS!

March for Life

2006-01-24T17:03:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday, January 22, was the 33rd aniversary of Roe v. Wade, the court decision that made abortion legal. Each year MCCL (Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life) hosts a rally called the March for Life at the Capitol, and over 6000 people showed up for this one. I remember going to the event as a kid, but this was my first one in years. The first half of the event was a march around the front grounds of the State Capitol, and the second half was a rally. I was disappointed only that it was a little too much of a rally and not enough of a funeral for 46 million children.

If any political cause is worth supporting, surely the pro-life cause is it. And that's only because the abortion issue is far more than a political cause. Abortion is a legal act that mocks God by destroying His image-bearers for convenience and money. The numbers and statistics about abortion murders are staggering. Abort73 puts out a teriffic (and very graphic) site with this information. Be prepared to cry if you watch these videos. They are horrible, but we need to be reminded about what is really going on. In high school, my principal showed us a video called The Silent Scream which is a good eye-opener as well.

Pastor John preached on abortion this Sunday from the angle of loving your neighbor. The unborn children being killed certainly need people who won't walk on the other side of the road, but instead will invest time, money and energy into caring for them. In the sermon, he read advertisements from abortion clinics' websites that were just sickening. They charge by the age of the "fetus," say they are defending "reproductive rights," describe their procedures as "emptying the contents of the uterus," and whine about how much expense the Woman's Right to Know bill has added to their budgets. I would like to think that it is only money that motivates these clinics to do what they do, but maybe it is more. How can someone take lives every day? Either they are so completely hardened to what they are actually doing, or they actually want to kill.

If you spend some time on the Planned Parenthood website, you can see how much deception is really there. They insist that they are doing what is best for women by offering them 3 choices(keeping the baby, adoption and abortion) for their unplanned pregnancy. They warn women to stay away from "so-called crisis pregnancy centers who will not give you the option of ending your pregnancy." They also describe the abortion procedure in simple, non-scary terms so the woman does not realize what they are actually going to do to her. One FAQ was "Does the fetus feel any pain?" The answer was no, despite all the research done lately on that subject. Ask any neonatal surgeon if the fetus on which he operated could feel what he did.

At the march I walked with my friend Sarah who grew up at Bethlehem. She told me stories of how the youth group used to protest in front of one of the local abortion clinics. One of Piper's sons would even lie in front of the door until he got arrested and carried away. My first reaction was, "That's awesome, but I would never do something that extreme." But after thinking about it, blocking the door doesn't seem extreme at all. People are being murdered in those buildings every day.

The conclusion of Pastor John's sermon was that the abortionists need to be saved. Just imagine the change if those doctors, administrators, recptionists and nurses came to Christ. He challenged us to pray every day to that end. The pro-choice advocates are scared for their cause if Judge Alito gets appointed. I hope they are right, and that the law changes. But more than that, I hope this sin is stopped by the blood of Christ changing hearts.

O Holy Night

2005-12-24T21:45:00.000-06:00

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and darkness pining
'Till He appeared, gift of infinite worth.
Behold the Babe in yonder manger lowly:
’Tis God’s own Son come down in human form.
Fall on your knees before the Lord most holy!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, o night divine!

With humble hearts we bow in adoration
Before this Child, gift of God’s matchless love,
Sent from on high to purchase our salvation
That we might dwell with Him ever above.
What grace untold: to leave the bliss of glory
And die for sinners guilty and forlorn.
Fall on your knees! Repeat the wondrous story!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, o night divine!

O day of joy, when in eternal splendor
He shall return in His glory to reign,
When ev’ry tongue due praise to Him shall render,
His pow’r and might to all nations proclaim!
A thrill of hope each longing heart rejoices,
For soon shall dawn that glad eternal morn.
Fall on your knees! With joy lift up your voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Eats, Shoots and Leaves

2005-12-23T15:21:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you've all heard the cheesy joke about the panda bear who walks into a restaurant, eats his meal, and then shoots the waiter. As the panda runs out the door, the hostess chases him down and demands to know why he would do such a thing. He tosses her a badly punctuated wildlife manual and says, "I'm a panda. Look it up." She looks up the word "Panda" and reads, "Large bear-like mammal from Asia. Eats, shoots and leaves."
Well, a rather clever lady from England wrote a book using this joke as the title. I just finished reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, and I enjoyed it very much. It is meant to arouse the inner stickler in anyone who cares about correct punctuation and is bothered when people use it wrongly. Personally, bad grammar bothers me a lot more. For example, I hate express lanes that say "10 items or less," and I am quite bothered by the T-Mobile slogan, "Call whoever, whenever." However, I do appreciate good punctuation almost as much as good grammar. I know we all make mistakes (spelling, using prepositions without objects, etc...) in our writing and speaking, but things that are permanent should not contain mistakes! I mean things like books which have supposedly been proof-read, signs, advertisements, etc...

In her book, Lynne Truss gives many examples of how punctuation can change the meaning of something that has been written. Here is one of her examples that is less life-threatening than the panda one:

Dear Jack,
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours?
Jill

By simply changing the puctuation and capitalization, you can make the letter read:

Dear Jack,
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Jill

Throughout the book she explains the history of all the common punctuation marks, as well as rules for punctuation (which most sticklers already know) in a humorous way with many good examples of people's errors. Here's a few funny ones:

Pupil's Entrance (on a very selective school, presumably)
Adult Learner's Week (lucky him)
Member's May Ball (but with whom will the member dance?)
Lands' End (mail-order company which roundly denies anything wrong with name)

Just yesterday I found this one on the Jamba Juice menu board:

Coldbuster Smoothie : Knock-out germs with this vitamin-loaded drink... (I can't remember the rest of the description.)
Apparently this smoothie contains some incredibly attractive infection that is so desirable, I should pay for it.

Now, according to Ms. Truss, I should sneak into the Jamba Juice kiosk around midnight and paint over that incorrect hyphen. Or, I should at least tell them about it. Maybe I could ask the Apostrophe Protection Society (yes, there is such a thing) to write them a letter.

The book I read is the American edition in which Lynne Truss interacts with the changes we Americans have made to English punctuation. She makes fun of us for things like always putting ending punctuation inside closing quotation marks or calling "round brackets" "parentheses." She's probably right; they did have the language first.

The last part of the book contains her rant about how e-mail and text-messaging have cause the decay of English punctuation and grammar. Here's how she feels about emoticons:

"You will know all about emoticons. Emoticons are the proper name for smileys. And a smiley is, famously, this:
:-)
Forget the idea of selecting the right words in the right order and channelling the reader's attention by means of artful pointing. Just add the right emoticon to your email and everyone will know what self-expressive effect you thought you kind-of had in mind. Anyone interested in punctuation has a dual reason to feel aggrieved about smileys, because not only are they a paltry substitue for expressing oneslf properly; they are also designed by people who evidently thought the punctuation marks on the standard keyboard cried out for an ornamental function. What's this dot-on-top-of-a-dot thing for? What earthly good is it? Well, if you look at it sideways, it could be a pair of eyes. What's this curvy thing for? It's a mouth, look! Hey, I think we're on to something."

Upon reading that, my inner stickler rises up against emoticons. Maybe I will stop using smileys in my e-mails; maybe I won't. But, if I do use one, it will certainly bother me like never before.

Happy Jane Austin's Birthday!

2005-12-16T10:49:00.000-06:00

Today is Jane Austin's 230th birthday. One of my co-workers saw me reading my 7-in-1 volume (yes, it's pretty thick) of Jane Austin's novels and realized I was a fellow fan, and today she sent me an e-mail about Jane Austin that talks about her life in honor of her birthday, etc... So, today is a good day to write about the new Pride and Prejudice movie which I saw this week.
I liked it very much, though having re-read the book recently, I noticed lots of changes. But there is no way a 2-hour movie can follow a 220 page book. I have heard that the 6-hour version does, but I have not seen it.
The acting was excellent, the scenery was beautiful, and the movie seemed more realistic than the other Jane Austin books-turned-movies that have come out lately. Not that I really know how it was in 19th century England, it just seemed that way to me.
Of course when you read a book, you imagine and picture characters a certain way, and in a movie they are often protrayed differently. For me, that happened with characters like Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennet, and Mary. I imagined Mr. Collins as a little more jolly, Mr. Bennet as more sarcastic and quick-witted, and Mary as more proud and less sensitive. Georgianna Darcy was definitely too outgoing and friendly, and I don't picture Bingley being so silly and awkward. I also imagined Mr. Darcy as more strikingly handsome than the actor they chose, but the guy definitely grows on you during the movie. And it's not about the looks anyway.
Because of time, a few characters went a little under-developed like Caroline Bingley (not to mention her sister who was left out). She had very little interaction with Jane in the movie, while the book displays her (and her sister's) hypocrisy of being Jane's best friend one minute and backstabbing her the next. Another unfortunate exclusion was the vindictive pleasure that Elizabeth gets from the intended match between Darcy and Anne DeBourgh. That is not mentioned until almost the end so Elizabeth can't really enjoy imagining them married (which she only does until she stops hating him, that is).
My last regret is that the comments about Elizabeth's "fine eyes" were missing along with the signature opening line, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fourtune, must be in want of a wife." I guess it would be impossible to include that line without a narrator, and that would have been cheesy.
So, in all, it is a great movie. I'm sure it will come out on DVD sometime around my birthday in April if anyone cares. Oh, wait, I don't have a DVD player. Never mind.
Oh, has anyone noticed the coincedence with the names of the actresses they pick for these movies? Elinor in Sense and Sensibility was played by Emma Thompson and this movie starred Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth. Hmmm...

Sunday's Message

2005-12-15T16:43:00.000-06:00

I usually don't cry in church, but this past Sunday I did. Pastor Piper preached on Romans 15:7-13, specifically emphasizing verse 12, "And again Isaiah says, 'The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.'” You can read the transcript here: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/05/121105.html ( I know there's a cool way to hide the link so I can write "Click here" and the "here" will take you there, but I'm just not that blog-savvy.), but it's not exactly complete. I guess when the Desiring God staff writes the transcripts of Piper's sermons, they must edit a little to keep them short. Either that or he says different things during different services. Anyway, the part that brought tears to my eyes is not in the transcript so I will write it out.
He talked about how Christ is what we hope in and gave 3 things that we hope for. The 3 things are the glory of God (v. 6.7.9), the new heavens and earth, and new bodies with no pain or death (Romans 8:23, “We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for . . . the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”).
Piper says that we are hoping for,

"Not only a new heaven and a new earth, but a new body with which to enjoy it for the glory of God. So Paul is writing to help us abound in hope, and the hope is based on Jesus Christ—in him shall the Gentiles hope—and eagerly anticipates the fullness of the revelation of the glory of God, the new heavens and new earth, and new bodies with no more crying or pain (Revelation 21:4)."

Then he talked a little more about these 2 and said something like this (not an exact quote):
"We rejoice in this hope so much because our bodies are sick and dying. We get cancer and lose our hair and die in car crashes. But the Gospel is for all these things. Getting new bodies and living in a new earth is a huge benefit of the Gospel. The health-and-weath people preach their false gospel loud and clear, but do you know where they don't preach it? The 4th floor of Augustana (that's a nursing home about 3 blocks from church, and I'm guessing the 4th floor is where the very sick people stay). But I've got a Gospel for them! My Gospel is good in the cancer ward or the nursing home. One thing my Savior purchased for me is a future existence without suffering."
(Again, this is not exactly what he said but the general idea.)

Somehow, having my focus put there was just what I needed at the moment. This world is sick and dying, and I am aware of that every time I have a cold or some other pain. The thought of being freed from decay is so beautiful, and it brought tears to my eyes.

Which Jane Austen Character Are You?

2005-11-09T16:29:00.000-06:00

I thought this quiz was pretty cool. Here's what I got:

You scored as Elinor Dashwood. As Marianne's older sister, Elinor lives at the other end of the emotional spectrum. She rarely reveals her intense feelings and is more concerned with being honest and loyal than having what she deserves. Even though her intentions are pure, she sets herself up for loss by constantly placing other people before her own needs. Overall, Elinor is gentle and rational but is just as capable of radical emotions (despite her withholding them) as her sister.

Elinor Dashwood

78%

Elizabeth Bennet

69%

Emma Woodhouse

56%

Marianne Dashwood

47%

Lady Catherine

44%

Charlotte Lucas

41%

Jane Bennet

34%

Which Jane Austen Character are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Here's the link if you want to try it:

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=41259&first=yes

I met Peter McLaughlin!

2005-11-08T10:19:00.000-06:00

Unless you are from Minneapolis, you are probably asking, "Who on earth is Peter McLaughlin?" If you are from Minneapolis, you may have seen his name all over the city. Let me explain...
In my life, I have not met very many famous people. I really have not even seen any in person. My friends in Green Bay met George Bush, and my dad saw (not met, though) Arnold Schwarzenegger (from a distance) when he (A.S., not my dad) was filming Jingle All the Way in MN, but I have no such claim. The coolest famous person I have met is Van Cliburn. He even autographed a tape for me (that's how long ago it was). But most people reading this are probably asking, "Who is Van Cliburn?" and that just proves he is not all that famous unless you are into classical music. Oh, here's a good one: I talked to Michael Horton at a conference once, and he is pretty well-known in evangelical circles.
So, today I was priviledged to randomly meet a public figure. He's not known much outside of this area, but I did see him on TV recently. I have to give a little background so you can understand how I felt when I met him.
A couple weeks ago, I watched about 1/2 hour of the Minneapolis mayoral debate. I'm not even sure why I watched it, because I am not really into politics, but I do find debates very interesting. The two men debating were the incumbent mayor, R. T. Rybak, and his challenger, Peter McLaughlin. The funny thing about elections in both Minneapolis and St. Paul is that Republicans are not even in the running. Both candidates in both cities this year are democrats, and I think that's how it usually is.
Anyway, as I watched the debate, I was very unimpressed with how McLaughlin spoke or handled questions. His main tactic was to attack Rybak and point out all the things Rybak has done wrong in his term as mayor. When Rybak would give a reasonable defense for a problem that McLauglin pointed out, McLaughlin would just switch to a new one. They argued for awhile about things like property taxes and crime in Minneapolis--both issues that concern me slightly. I don't want my lanlord's taxes to go up 'cause that might raise the rent :) , and I'm all about being safe as I travel around this city. Anyway, McLauglin kept saying that Rybak was not doing a good enough job, and that he could do better, etc... I decided I really did not like the guy when he flat-out refused to answer a question twice. He had accused Rybak of not reducing spending so as to stay within the budget, so Rybak asked, "How would you have cut $(insert large amount of money here) from Minneapolis spending?" McLaughlin did not answer the question at all, and contined to complain about Rybak's job. For his rebuttal, Rybak said, "I would like to repeat the question which you did not answer. How would YOU..." Again, McLauglin did not answer, but manged to fill his allotted 30 seconds or whatever with more criticism. So, I determined that McLaughlin likes to complain and attack, but doesn't seem to have thought through any solutions for what he doesn't like. This seemed to be true on other issues too. I also determined that if I were to vote, I would vote for Rybak. Really, this was a very uninformed decision, and I barely have the right to have an opinion since watching half of one debate is all the research I've done. But, if I had to decide, I would vote for the incumbent. I actually don't think I can vote, because I am not an official resident of Minneapolis (my driver's license still says "Cannon Falls"). And the election is today so I don't have time to find out.
So, this morning (now you will see why all that history is important to this story), I got off the bus at the station where I always get on the train, and saw two policemen standing by the platform. That always makes me a little nervous (like did they get a bomb threat or something?). Then I saw this guy walking toward me. He had a big smile and was extending his hand to shake mine. All I could think was, "I recognize this guy, though I don't know why, and I know I don't like him, but I don't know why." It was such a weird feeling, kinda like de-ja-vu, but then he gave me his quick speech - "HiI'mPeterMcLaughlin-andI'mrunningfortheofficeofthemayorofMinneapolis-theelctionistoday-IhopeIcancountonyoursupport" and was on to the next guy after handing me a sticker. Ok, it wasn't quite that bad, but it was pretty quick - and rehearsed. I put the sticker in my pocket (I wouldn't have worn it even if it was someone I wanted to vote for) and said thanks. I didn't bother to tell him that I can't vote in Minneapolis or that I would support Rybak if I could. But I do admire the guy for spending the morning at lonely train stations talking to people. At first I wondered why he was at the more quiet station in South Minneapolis as opposed to the busy one downtown where I get off. But, then I realized (duh!) that most of the people boarding the train at my station actually live in Minneapolis, whereas the people getting off downtown live all over and have come from 3 park-and-rides, etc... Smart guy.
Anyway, I think he was the most well-known person I have met in quite awhile. I just don't meet famous people. I win contests and drawings, but I don't meet famous people.

Tim

2005-10-25T17:07:00.000-05:00

Well, just over a week ago, God gave me another "unseen thing" to long for. That is my friend, Tim, in heaven. He died in a car crash on Oct. 15, but is now more alive than ever before. He has no sin, and is able to worship God perfectly. That's something I really long for.
I have seen God give so much grace through all of this. First, in comfort from God. In times like this, when pain is so great, Truth is more important than ever. My God is truly a rock to which I can cling. I can trust His promises that Tim is with Him, that this was in His sovereign plan all along, that this is good because God is good, and that the same future awaits me someday.
I also thank God for comfort from friends. I don't know how unsaved people truly feel in times of grief, but it has to be awful to hear, "I'm sorry," "He died so young," or "Well, I'm sure he's in a better place." The days following Tim's death, I heard (or read in e-mails) things like, "Read this Scripture," "Trust our sovereign God," and "Just think of Tim worshipping God right now." That is real comfort based on truth. The other option is shallow cliches based on feelings or wishes. It also meant a lot to me to know that other people were going through the same things I was. God says to comfort each other with the comfort we get from Him, and that is just His grace working through someone else.
So, now we all go on. We remember Tim and how he lived for God. But, more importantly, we allow this experience to make us more desperate for heaven than before. I long for heaven because I long to see Tim. But, far more than that, I long to see my Savior like Tim does right now. Tim has made me more homesick than before, and that is God's grace as well.

You might be a Minnesotan if...

2005-10-25T17:04:00.000-05:00

I found these on Justin Taylor's blog.

This post is dedicated to my friend Kerry who is learning to be a Minnesotan, though in some ways she will never be one.

You might be a Minnesotan...
~If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through l8 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by.
~If you're proud that your state makes the national news 96 nights each year, because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation.
~You were delighted to get a miniature snow shovel for your 3rd birthday.
~Your birthday was in April, and you still got to use the shovel right away.
So true! I was born in April during a blizzard.
~If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Minnesota.
Yep. They sell Christmas trees in the parking lot.
~If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there.
That's creepy.
~You have ever apologized to a telemarketer.
~If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Minnesota.
Suntan? What suntan? If you live in Minnesota and have one, you paid for it.
~If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Minnesota.
~If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Minnesota.
~If you know how to say Wayzata, Mahtomedi, Edina, Shakopee, Winton and Ely, you might live in Minnesota.
Kerry has Wayzata and Edina down already.
~If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in Minnesota.
Not my missionary-to-Africa friend Kerry! I, on the other hand, have recently learned to enjoy mild salsa.
~You measure distance in hours.
I think this one was meant to refer to rural MN, but it is also true of the entire Minneapolis/Saint Paul area during rush "hour" (approx. 6 hours of every weekday).
~You laugh out loud every time you see a news report about a blizzard shutting down the entire East Coast.
Yeah, that is pretty funny! Even when this area should shut down, it doesn't.
~You think of SPAM as a quality, all-purpose meat product whether served with eggs for breakfast, in a sandwich at noontime, or in a hot-dish for supper.
Ok, here I have to disagree. Spam is nasty.
~You know several people who have hit deer more than once.
~You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
~You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
I'm a total wimp when it comes to driving in snow, but many people do this.
~You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events.
~You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
~You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
Back when my parents let us go trick-or-treating (when I was about 6), I wore my "princess dress" with sweat pants, long sleeves, gloves and boots.
~Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
~You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
At least "road construction" season is warm!
~Down South to you means Iowa.
~You find 0 degrees a little chilly.

Welcome to MN, Kerry!

Humility

2005-10-25T17:03:00.000-05:00

I think that humility is the most elusive virtue we Christians are commanded to have. If I know God is giving me faith, I can do things for Him that I might not have done before because of fear or anxiety. If I know God is creating love in my heart for an unlovely person, I can love that person in word and in deed in ways I would not have previously. But if I know that I am more humble than before, oops! It is gone! Somehow, if I am aware of my humility, it ceases to exist, because I get proud that I was so humble.
The reason I have thought about humilty lately is my recent exposure to corporate America. When you interview for a job, humility is not a quality that the business world wants. One interview I had last spring (did not get the job, and I think this is one of the reasons) is a good example of this. The lady interviewing me asked lots of questions which I was probably supposed to answer with great self-confidence, but I just couldn't. My answers were more, "I think I can do the job," "I will try," etc... while she probably wanted, "I am positive that I can do this job and that I am the best choice for this position!" I couldn't say that because I didn't know (or even think) that it was true. I had never done the job before, and she was most likely interviewing several people more qualified to do it than I. So, here's me with somewhat forced humility (and now that I have called it that, I have become proud) which she probably interpreted as weakness, lack of confidence, laziness, or whatever. The employers and HR people I have talked to lately have been pretty much the same (though not all of them). So I try not to say things that would look bad to an employer while at the same time fighting to show Christ-like humility.
Then today I read the chapter in Future Grace by John Piper that is about pride. This is what he says:
"Humility is not a popular human trait in the modern world. It's not touted in the talk shows or celebrated in valedictory speeches or commended in diversity seminars or listed with corporate core values. And if you go to the massive self-help section of your sprawling mall bookstore, you won't find many titles celebrating humility."
Yes, I certainly have noticed this! Here is his reason:
"The basic reason for this is not hard to find: humility can only survive in the presence of God. When God goes, humility goes. In fact you might say that humility follows God like a shadow. We can expect to find humility applauded in our society about as often as we find God applauded. . . When God is neglected, the runner-up god takes his place, namely man. And that, by definition, is the opposite of humility, namely the haughty spirit called pride. So the atmosphere we breath is hostile to humility."
So, this is both encouraging and discouraging to me. It is discouraging to think about the state of every man without Christ. Among the vast store of treasures that he is missing because he is unsaved is the privilege of humility. Since he does not have Christ, he must turn to himself for answers, resources, etc... And when he comes to the end of himself(which may take a while, depending on how rich and smart he is), he has nothing! An unsaved man will never appreciate humility or enjoy the blessing of it.
But, for the Christian, this is a comforting and liberating truth. With Christ comes safety, provision, objective truth, and many other things that we don't have to find in ourselves. We have the blessing of being able to cast our cares on Him, trusting Him for both earthly needs and eternal satisfaction. He is the source of all truth, and the power of Godly living. Looking for those things in ourselves would lead us to despair, but Christ grants us the privilege of coming to Him like a helpless, humble child.

Now if only I could learn how to be humble without knowing it...

Another Blog!

2005-10-25T17:02:00.000-05:00

As if cyberspace really needs just one more person blogging random thoughts about whatever.... Oh well! Here goes.

I got the title from a Newsboys song called "Hallelujah," so I thought I would post the words here.

I'm looking up
Holding out
Pressing forward
Without a doubt
Longing for the things unseen
Longing for the things I believe
My true country

We hope and wait
For the glorious day
All tears will vanish
Wiped away
On the saints this day already shines
On the saints this day already shines
It already shines

We'll be singing hallelujah
We'll be singing hallelujah
At the top of our lungs, halle-le-lujah
(With all of our breath, halle-le-lujah)
To your glory, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

And I know that it's coming
But I can't see it now
And I've touched it in moments
But I can't hold it yet
And it glows in the darkness
And it calls us away
To our true destination
To that glorious day

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.