Let the posting continue.

While the main reason I haven’t posted since my anniversary is because my job has consumed too much time and energy, another significant reason has been an internal battle over whether I should be blogging at all. I am not on Facebook or Twitter, and am not part of any of today’s other means of electronic socialization or conversation. In fact, as technologically savvy as I think I am, I really am disconnected when it comes to social media. Since I can count the number of readers who read this blog on one hand, it seemed wise that I should just hang up the spurs, so to speak.

Furthermore, when I hear prominent people, or at least people that I look up to, say negative things about blogging and bloggers, I inwardly cringe. Am I vain or self-absorbed? I certainly recognize certain symptoms. When I started this blog in December 2005, the purpose was for family to keep up with what we were doing. Most of our posts were family related. But the siren song to a seminary student of readers and theologically deep writing grabbed hold of me, and I found myself reminding people that I was blogging, and I spent hours trying to write posts worth reading. I am quite sure I was more of an annoyance than a blessing. I still don’t think any of my family reads this blog. In fact, I chuckle inwardly now when I talk with people who recently started a blog and subtly remind me of that fact four or five times during a three minute conversation.

I have convinced myself several times in the last few months to simply be done. No more posts. But then I will come across a quote or paragraph or thought that I immediately want to post. Why is that? I am not sure. I guess it really is the same reason that other people are on Facebook or Twitter: we want to share something of ourselves with others.

So, the point is that I have decided to keep blogging. However, my expectations are extremely low. I do not really know how many people read this or if anyone will still read it since I haven’t posted for five months. That is not the point. The point is that this blog is a bit of an outlet for me. It gives me an opportunity to record a thought or post a quote that I found interesting. It allows me to record something that I thought was important, if even for a moment. Maybe my wife will read this and we can converse later over the dinner table. Maybe when I am dead my kids will read this electronic remnant and find an insight into their dad they didn’t know. (Sorry, that was morbid.)

This isn’t much of a reason to blog, and it certainly doesn’t fit with a desire to gain readership, but it is enough of a reason for me to continue doing this.

My goal is to post at least once a week; something, however small. If you do read this blog, please don’t expect much, and thanks for reading.

20 Years of Joy

Today is the 20th anniversary of being married to my best friend, lover, and partner in everything. She has put up with a lot in the last 20 years. She is God's greatest physical embodiment of mercy, grace, forgiveness, love, joy, partnership, and perseverance to me. I can more easily believe that God is real and good by looking at the gift of my wife. I exalt Christ and thank him for her, all the while striving (not so well) to love her like Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25-33).

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Deadly Serious

“Life is deadly serious and wonderfully joyful.”

—Pastor David Livingston during Wednesday morning prayer.

Addicted

Chipotle

Check out picture 219 at the link above.

[Update: Chipotle changed their site and our picture disappeared, but they still sent me TEN free burrito cards. How cool is that?]

'The Empire Strikes Back' Turns 30

See the post from John Gruber of Daring Fireball. He writes:

I say the unsung hero of Empire is screenwriter Leigh Brackett. George Lucas wrote the story, but Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote the screenplay. Why is the dialogue so good, the characters so interesting, compared to the other films in the franchise? Because George Lucas didn’t write the dialogue. Empire has more great lines of dialogue than the other five Star Wars movies combined. (My very favorite, right from the day my dad took me to see a matinee on opening weekend, was purportedly an ad-lib by Harrison Ford: “I know.”)

Clearly, his analysis of Lucas’s negative impact on dialogue is obvious. (I still deny the existence of Star Wars 1, 2, and 3.) But, my question to everyone who saw this movie in the theaters, like I did, is, “Do you not know exactly what scene Harrison Ford’s quote is from?”

A Glorious Morning

This boy from Washington State absolutely loves mornings like this. It is raining relatively hard, lighting is slamming the Shoreview Towers, and thunder is rolling across the sky from south to north.

My family is at the library, all the windows are open, the smell of rain is everywhere, and I am sitting at my computer with a large mug of steaming hot coffee in my hand and an eclectic mix of tunes flowing from my playlist.

It really is glorious.

Job 28:23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

The Last Enemy

One of my elders at Bethlehem is one of those Godly men that you point to when someone asks you what a Christian is. At this point in my life, I know I don't trust Christ as much as he does. I pray that if and when I face suffering that God will be gracious to give me a heart like Mitch's. Here is what Mitch posted last night on his wife’s Caring Bridge site.

There are times when the question why is not going to be answered. We just need to move forward trusting in the path God leads us. The LORD gives and the LORD takes way; blessed be the name of the LORD. At 6:39pm on May 14th my beautiful wife while in my arms, went to be with the LORD. As only God could plan Phillip, Emily, Cassie and I were all present when the LORD took her from us. Janelle was at one of her friend’s house and we were able to get her soon after and we gathered around our Mom, my Wife and prayed for the mercy, grace, and strength to move forward. It is strange how fast things change, and over the last few days we knew the treatment was not going as planned. There is only so much a body can take and after fifteen and a half months of chemo, drugs, and infections, her weakened body could take no more. The nurses and the Doctor tried to do all they could, but Jesus was calling and Mary answered. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. The days ahead will be difficult and we will need to make many adjustments. We are thankful to be the children of God. We have a hope in things to come when we will put on an imperishable body when things like Leukemia will be gone forever. We will have no more tears, no more death, and we will reign in His kingdom, worshiping the King with Mary and all the saints forever.

Worshiping through tears,

Mitch, Phil, Emily, Cassie, and Janelle

I Threw a Tomato at the Wall Yesterday

Conversation overheard at a local high school:

“I threw a tomato at the wall yesterday, but my parents didn't do anything. Nothing I do anymore phases them.”

If we, as parents, do not set boundaries, then we are doing a disservice to our children. In fact, Solomon says we hate our children: “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him” (Proverbs 13:24; cf. 5:23, 6:23).

I am sure that many well-meaning parents have withheld the rod, listening too much to outside voices, thinking that by being lenient their children will come around. Unfortunately, this is not true. Solomon wrote, “Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death” (Proverbs 19:18). Avoiding discipline is akin to putting your child to death.

One might ask how this could possibly be true? The answer is given a couple chapters later, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15; cf. 23:13). Original sin is a reality.

As Solomon said, there is hope. It is possible to raise children and have your heart full of delight. I am not unaware of the reality that our children’s hearts must be regenerated, but God uses means, and one of those means is discipline. Again, Solomon writes, “Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart” (Proverbs 29:17).

My heart goes out to this child; she wants her parents to discipline her. I believe that the cry of her heart can be heard in that last simple sentence, “Nothing I do anymore phases them.” In other words, “I have tried. I can't seem to get their attention.”

Parents, discipline your children. They need you.

Page CXVI—Hymns II Album

A year or so ago, an Indy Christian band called Page CXVI put out an album of hymns that had been filtered through their musical style. The issue of hymns in the church can be a strained one, but I find myself loving these hymns with words that are theologically sound and a music style that appeals to where I am at. Very selfish, I know.

The first Hymns album fit that bill nicely. Even my kids (9–14) enjoy the album, so much so that one of my daughters wants the Page CXVI version of Nothing But The Blood played at her funeral. Morbid, yes, but not unworthy of thanksgiving.

For one week only, starting today, you can download the first Hymns album for free. Visit here.

The new album contains the following songs:

1. How Great Thou Art

2. Praise To The Lord

3. Jesus I Am Resting, Resting

4. Rock Of Ages

5. Abide With Me

6. Battle Hymn Of The Republic

7. Doxology

You can order/download the new album here.

Tears of Joy and Expectation for the God Who Loves the Lame and Outcast

19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.

—Zephaniah 3:19–20

Spring Lily

spring lily, originally uploaded by wenabell.

Wen got a new macro lens and is going to town. Check out her flickr site to see more. Yes, she is my wife, but I think she has talent. Check out the pics she takes.

Two More Ways Apple Earns My Loyalty

Way to Earn Loyalty #1:

I took my iPod Touch in to the Apple store this morning because somehow dust had gotten behind the screen and was visible whether the iPod was on or off. Being behind the glass, so to speak, the dust could not be cleaned away. The Genius Bar technician looked at it for about 20 seconds, checked my warranty, which fortunately had 43 days left, and switched me out with a new iPod Touch. Yes, the new iPod matched my previous model exactly (2gen, 16GB), but they extended my warranty to a full 90 days. They didn’t have to, nor did they have to give me a new one.

Way to Earn Loyalty #2:

We have a 17" iMac, purchased in January 2006, that the kids use. It is over 4-years old and way out of warranty. A month or so ago a vertical blue line showed up about three inches from the left side of the screen. I decided to bring the iMac with me to the Apple store to get a diagnosis, figuring that I would then buy the replacement part and fix it myself. The diagnosis was as expected, the LCD screen was faulty. “However,” said the Genius Bar technician, “our engineers want to understand this problem, so we will replace your screen at no cost to you so that we can have the faulty part. If you leave it with us we will replace your screen and you should have your computer back either tomorrow or Monday. Will that work for you?” As they say in Minnesota, “You betcha.”

Granted, I was already a fanboy, but with this kind of service who wouldn't be?

Together they launched a holy war on their era’s scientific materialism...

“These three ‘literary Brits’ [C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Dorothy Sayers] shared more than a lively Christian faith, the writing of imaginative literature, and a strong mutual regard. Together they launched a holy war on their era’s scientific materialism and the spiritual declension that accompanied it. Each lifted up in their writings a rich, world-embracing Christian vision against the grey deadness of secularization. For each, this was a life-and-death battle, with the future of the Western world hanging in the balance. They saw their age’s new creed of hard-nosed scientific pragmatism draining the world of spirit and meaning—indeed, as Lewis put it, threatening to tear out of us our very hearts, abolishing humanity itself.”

Read the whole article by Chris Armstrong, my former history prof at Bethel.

On second thought...

“On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.”

—King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Answering the Why Question

Some days my mind is cloudier than others. It is relatively easy to ask big why questions of God when we see photos of Haiti or Chile. When we are closed up in our suburban, comfy, shells, it is relatively easy not to ask the why questions at all.

Then once in a while, we learn or hear about suffering and evil that is so horrendous, we recoil in physical revulsion. Combine that with a cloudy head, and it is easy for me to fall away from my own knowledge of truth and ask the same why questions.

Trying to understand why my head gets cloudy is not the point of this post. The point of this post is to remember, again, a solid answer to one of the why questions. My pastor’s answers usually clear my foggy head:

Why do little children suffer and die? We ask it with the awareness that it is happening this very moment by the hundreds, and we ask it through tears of personal experience and empathy. Here is one biblical answer: “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12).

When an objection arises that it is “harsh, to bring the whole creation under the judgment of suffering and death, including little children, because of one man's sin.” My pastor’s answer is again helpful:

That is how outrageous sin against an infinitely wise and good and holy God is. We don’t measure the outrage of our suffering by how insignificant we think sin is; we measure the outrage of sin by the scope of suffering. The really amazing thing is that you and I, as sinners, are sitting here talking, when we deserve to be in hell. God is remarkably patient. And he gave his Son to die in our place so that everyone who believes may escape from this judgment and have eternal life.

(HT: Desiring God; Read the whole article.)

Here comes the rain again, I hope.

The weather forecast shows 70% chance for precipitation on Wednesday. Several times during the last week of sunny days, I realized that this Washington boy longs for a few solid days of rain. I can only take so much sunshine.

(Note: Average days of precipitation—including snow—in Minneapolis, MN., 115 days. Average days of precipitation—not including snow—in Portland, OR., 151 days.)

Dogmatics is...

My Friend posted what he considers to be the “best definition of theology I’ve ever read.” Here is the full quote:

“Dogmatics is the system of the knowledge of God as he has revealed himself in Christ; it is the system of the Christian religion. And the essence of the Christian religion consists in the reality that the creation of the Father, ruined by sin, is restored in the death of the Son of God and re-created by the grace of the Holy Spirit into a kingdom of God. Dogmatics shows us how God, who is all-sufficient in himself, nevertheless glorifies himself in his creation, which, even when it is torn apart by sin, is gathered up again in Christ (Eph. 1:10). It describes for us God, always God, from beginning to end—God in his being, God in his creation, God against sin, God in Christ, God breaking down all resistance through the Holy Spirit and guiding the whole of creation back to the objective he decreed for it: the glory of his name. Dogmatics, therefore, is not a dull and arid science. It is a theodicy, a doxology to all God’s virtues and perfections, a hymn of adoration and thanksgiving, a ‘glory to God in the highest’ (Luke 2:14).”

[Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, I.112, in the best definition of theology I’ve ever read (no offense to my hero Dr Webster)]

Now, as you know, I am not nearly as sharp as the dullest tack in the box, so I had to look up a few words, scratch my head, scrunch up my eyes, and think real hard. For some reason, I can’t remember the definition of theodicy to save my life. I have to look it up every time. (Rabbit trail: I really like the Command-Control-D sequence in a true Cocoa app; the instant dictionary rocks.)

According to the Oxford American Dictionary, Theodicy means, “the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil.” Now, I don't know if that is what Herman Bavinck thought it meant, but when I put Bavinck's last sentence together with that definition, it goes like this:

“[Dogmatics] is a vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil, a doxology to all God’s virtues and perfections, a hymn of adoration and thanksgiving, a ‘glory to God in the highest’ (Luke 2:14).”

I like that. I think that makes sense.

Capital “F” Friends

A friend of mine reposted a quote regarding friendship, Facebook, and technology. The gist is that technology should not attempt to represent friendships. The purpose in this present post is not to debate that subject. After all, I don’t have a Facebook account; who am I to criticize?

Rather, I am merely using this as a segue into a sappy post about friends. The following is not original, but I think it is accurate. I lament the lack of deep friendships in life. When I look around, I see people who have huge numbers of so-called friends, but very few deep friends. In other words, there are friends with a little “f” and friends with a capital “F.” The first is a large group with sloppy admission standards, the other an elite, time-tested crew.

What is the difference?

A little “f” friend identifies themselves when they call.
A capital “F” Friend doesn’t have to.

A little “f” friend opens a conversation with a full news bulletin on their life.
A capital “F” Friend says, “What’s new with you?”

A little “f” friend thinks the problems you whine about are recent.
A capital “F” Friend says, “You’ve been whining about the same thing for 14 years. Get off your duff and do something about it.”

A little “f” friend has never seen you cry.
A capital “F” Friend has shoulders soggy from your tears.

A little “f” friend knows almost nothing about your family.
A capital “F” Friend knows the medical history, dietary habits and marital troubles of everyone on your tree.

A little “f” friend calls you at 10 p.m. just to chat.
A capital “F” Friend knows you hate to be called after 9 p.m.

A little “f” friend wonders about your romantic history.
A capital “F” Friend could blackmail you with it.

A little “f” friend when visiting, they act like a guest.
A capital “F” Friend when visiting, they open your refrigerator, put they’re feet on the sofa, talk back to your spouse and reprimand your children.

A little “f” friend thinks the friendship is over when you argue.
A capital “F” Friend knows that a friendship’s not a friendship until you’ve had a fight.

Uncommon Loyalty

“Fine,” Henry said. “Once my family is free and Flax gets them out, the rest of you can fight where you will or go home.” He pointed at Fat Frank. “Make sure they find my family.”

“No lad,” Frank said, shaking his head. “That’s for Jacques and his chestnut mob. I stay with you. We find the witch and pluck her beard.”

“Frank,” Henry said. “I don’t even—”

“Hush yourself,” Frank said. “Listen to those lions roaring in your blood. Even I can hear them. I know this wager. I know the odds, and I know the stakes.” He pointed up. “By the time this bleeding sun has bubbled in the sea, the game will be played and the tale told. Where your feet stand when the sun has set, there will be mine. If your blood pools, it won’t be pooling alone, and if there’s nought left but a pile of ash, it will be ash of Henry Maccabee and Fat Frank Once-a-Faerie.” He thumped his green mace against Henry’s breastplate. “We’ve stood the storm before, son of Mordecai. Now draw that faerie sword and let’s to war. Your father labors.”

—N. D. Wilson, The Chestnut King, pp. 437–438

The Chestnut King

I just finished N. D. Wilson’s latest book, The Chestnut King. Wow. It was fantastic. The Chestnut King was the third and final installment in the 100 Cupboards series of children’s books; however, they are not your mother’s children’s books. There is magic, suspense, swords, good, evil, love, and baseball—all of which you would expect. But the evil is really evil, and the blood is spilt blood, and the hero—a twelve year old boy—does some of the spilling. Don’t let that stop you from reading. Instead, remember what C. S. Lewis said about that.

One of the things—in my world anyway—which signals that a story, whether book or movie, was good is how long it sticks with me after it is over. If I am still thinking about it two days after it is over, then it was good. I think this is going to be that kind of book. I had an emotional bond with Henry York Maccabee and his family. I feel a loss having finished the book. I want to know more. I don’t want it to be over.

Now, there are only a handful of people who read this blog, mostly because I put it in your RSS feed. So, you know what I mean when I say that you are all working too much and should take a little time out to read a good book, or three. If reading a children’s book sounds beneath you, then you also need to remember what C.S. Lewis said about that. Go out and read this series. Now.