Well, for those of you who told me that nobody likes hip-hop, have no fear: today is rock.

Steph will tell you that probably my favorite musician is John Mayer.

Say what you want about his private life or his 20-million-dollar watch collection (no, seriously), but the man has more musical talent in one fingernail than I probably ever will in my life.

Not only does the guy have some serious musical talent, he also has some incredible song-writing skills. The lyrics to some of his songs are profound and poetic, and he manages to verbalize thoughts that I have but don’t know what to do with.

Jon Acuff over at “Stuff Christians Like” even wrote a “John Mayer Quiz“, where he challenges you to guess whether lines are from the Bible or from a Mayer song. He also gives 7 Reasons Why Christians Wish John Mayer Were a Christian, which is pretty funny to me.

Anyways, for my birthday last year, Steph bought me the Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles concert DVD.

It’s a fun mix of acoustic, blues, and pop and I love it.

In the past couple of weeks, it’s been a staple in our house because Josiah (our little drummer) has discovered a love for music and asks me to watch that thing every stinking day.

He points at the drummer and flails his arms and goes “booommma! boooommma!”

(Have I ever mentioned that I love my kid?)

Anyways, I don’t know where this long intro came from, but here is my favorite jam from the DVD. It’s the song Belief, which I have blogged about before.

Enjoy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZHnVvy_Hxg

Like many people, I first discovered Donald Miller through the book Blue Like Jazz. He had written several books before that one ‘hit it big’, but for some reason, that one got our attention.

I enjoyed the book a lot — not nearly as much as some of my friends — but I love Don’s writing style. He has a tone that would fit perfectly if he were your good friend and sitting across from you at a coffee shop telling you the stories he writes about. Where some books engage me in a way that is a mental workout, Don’s books engage me in a way that is a mental stress-reliever. I can read his writing before bed and it actually helps my mind slow down and try and take myself out of my shoes and put on his for a few minutes.

So, I’ve been excited to get my hands on his newest work, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life.

I won’t endeavor to write a significant review of the book — partly because I don’t have the time, and partly because several hundred other people have already done so (so why add to the noise?). I recommend Chris Brogan’s video review. Or, you can go here and read the first chapter online for free.

I will say that I think it’s a really neat concept, and it has given me another angle from which to view my experience of life. The book probably won’t change your life, but it will entertain you, engage you, and might even nudge you to dream a little better. I guess, in a way, all books change our life to a certain extent.

Anyways, the point of this post is to offer the snippet below from page 123. Every input we allow into our lives shapes our perspective and, consequently, our ambitions:

Before I started writing for a living, I had a job as a marketing guy at a start-up company that sold textbooks to the education market. In learning about my job, I had to read all kinds of other books about how to sell people stuff they didn’t need. As near as I could tell from reading those books, marking is a three-step process. The first step is to convince people they are miserable. The second step is to convince people they will be happy if they buy your product, and the third step is to include a half-naked woman in your pitch…

The thing I never realized while I was studying marketing was the process of advertising products is, in many ways, a manipulation of the elements of story. It’s like I was telling you about an inciting incident disrupting the stability of a character’s life, throwing him orher into a story. Advertising does exactly this. We watch a commercial advertising a new Volvo, and suddenly we feel our life isn’t as content as it once was. Our life doesn’t have the new Volvo in it. And the commercial convinces us we will only be content if we have a car with forty-seven airbags. And so we begin our story of buying a Volvo, only to repeat the story with a new weed eater and then a new home stereo. And this can go on for a lifetime. When the credits roll, we wonder what we did with our lives, and what was the meaning.

The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don’t want anything, we are living boring stories, and if we want a Roomba vaccuum cleaner, we are living stupid stories. If it won’t work in a story, it won’t work in life.

The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don’t want anything, we are living boring stories, and if we want a Roomba vaccuum cleaner, we are living stupid stories. If it won’t work in a story, it won’t work in life.

I’ve had seasons of growth, seasons of dryness, seasons of ‘active ministry’, seasons of ‘rebellion’…

Heck, I’ve been a ‘professional christian’ in various capacities.

But right now, at 27 1/2 years old, with no important-sounding titles like ‘pastor of _______‘ or ‘_________ leader‘, I can honestly say this:

I love the Bible more than I ever have.

I LOVE, the scripture: It is such a masterpiece of a book.

It is one BIG Story composed of lots of smaller stories that even gives shape and context to my story.

And it communicates the same Truth – and sub-truths – in dozens of various ways.

You can read the 4,000-year-old story of Joshua and learn about the courage that comes from trusting in God. Or you can read the 2,000-year-0ld story of Stephen and learn the same lesson.

You can see our need for a Savior in the ancient stories in Genesis, or in Paul’s detailed argument in his letter to the Romans, penned thousands of years later.

Written by so many different people over so many centuries… and still faithful and consistent in the Story of God

The Bible is a miracle.

As I’ve been reading in the Bible this year, I’ve had a question develop in my head:

Only a very small percentage of the Bible actually tells the literal story of Jesus (Matthew 1 – Acts 1). From the middle of Acts 2 through the end of the Bible, all we get are various commentaries and explanations about Who Jesus is and what He accomplished.  So I’ve been wondering how my perception of God and my understanding of the Gospel would be different if all I had of the new testament were the stories of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts)

(2 Clarifications: I’m including Acts because it tells us a lot about the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ life, so we’ll just go ahead and say that it makes more sense to group it with the Gospels than with the Epistles. Secondly, the light that the old testament shines on our understanding of the Gospel is profound, and how much of the Gospel we could understand without it would make a fun discussion, but I’ll save it for a later post. So for now, we’ll leave the O.T. alone. We’re just talking about losing most of the new testament.)

I believe that there is more than enough in these five writings to come to a sufficient understanding of the Gospel and it’s place in our lives, but many of the passages that give me the greatest clarity and encouragement would be gone.

So, I want to ask you:

Just for kicks, pretend that Matthew-Acts was the entire New Testament. What book/chapter/passage/teaching would you miss the most? Why?

I work in a small ’satelite’ office in Durham.

Our company’s headquarters is about 80 miles down the road, so someone made the excellent decision to lease our little corner of an office building in RTP for folks like me who would have to drive a couple hours every day without it.

A good 75 percent of our building is occupied by a branch of a federal government office, and apparently they do something worthy to merit a couple of Department of Homeland Security guards throughout the day.

The three guys who rotate the duty are all retired military dudes who are old enough to be my dad. This is kind of their retirement job.

They basically just sit at a desk in the lobby and sign off on mail deliveries and check people’s credentials before letting them onto the elevator…

Consequently, they’re usually REALLY bored, and they’ll talk to you as long as you let ‘em if you happen to make eye contact.

This is a problem for me, since I have to walk by their desk every time I need to go use the restroom or the water fountain.

Seriously: this is a problem for me.

Sometimes I pretend to be talking on my phone while I walk past them, otherwise I can’t guarantee that I’ll make it back to my desk.

It’s not that I’m antisocial or that I don’t want to talk to people. But sometimes I have five minutes to kill, not 25, and I can’t afford to miss a call or an urgent email.

Ok. So that’s only barely relevant to the point of this post, but it was nice to vent. (Send me your hourly rate and I’ll put a check in the mail)

Oh, and just to prove my point, I got up to use the restroom about 2 sentences back and I got pinned down by a guard. He wanted to tell me about how someone had a panic attack yesterday that got him going about how he almost had a panic attack years ago when he spent his first day on the job as a fire-fighter.

Actually, I kind of like this particular guard. He’s the chattiest of all of them, but I honestly think that he believes that he has important advice he needs to impart to me any time he gets a chance.

Plus, his daughter and grandkids live with him, and he pretty much supports all of them, so he seems like a pretty stand-up dude.

But there are 2 other guards…

One is just a dirty old man. He cusses like a sailor, and loud enough to hear all the way in my office, and when neither of the other guards are around, he watches movies on his laptop while he’s on duty. Last time he did that, I hear four cuss words in the time it took to walk from the bathroom to the door.

I once walked past the desk and he had both feet up on the desk and was read a copy of “Hustler” while having a conversation with a female employee.

So there’s the grandpa, the dirty old man, and I guess the third one we could call the entrepreneur.

Below is the footnotes version of a 20-minute conversation we had yesterday (while he was on the clock):

Guard: Does your wife like to shop?

Me (stunned): Uh, not really…

Guard: Of course she does. All women love to shop. You love to shop too, right?

Me: Uh…

Guard: When you want to buy something, where do you usually shop?

Me: Well, I guess it…

Guard: Most people say ‘Walmart’ or ‘KMart’

Me: Ah, sure

Guard: When you shop at Walmart, do they usually give you money back?

Me: If I pay wi…

Guard: Besides change

Me: I mean, my credit card has a little cash back program.

Guard (handing me his ‘business’ card): Wouldn’t you like to get paid to do your shopping?

Me (just trying to roll with it so I can get back to work): sure

Guard: All you gotta do is go to my website and create an account, and then you earn money every time you shop. Or travel!

Guard: (goes into long spiel about this business and how I can have my own website and earn money whenever I shop OR when OTHER people shop)

Guard: (still spieling…)

Guard (at some point in his spiel): You know, I came into this business really critical, but the ONLY problem that I’ve found so far is that it LOOKS kind of like a pyramid scheme. (yes, he said that out loud)

Guard (eventually): But that’s not even the best part. See, it really doesn’t matter whether people use your website or whether you make any money.

Me: Oh. It doesn’t?

Guard: No. See, if you do this program, you become a BUSINESS OWNER. You know what that means? Tax writeoffs!

Me: I see…

Guard: For example, last month, I made 200 extra dollars, just by writing off my business expenses.

Me: Wow!

Guard: Yeah, like right now: me and you are talking. You know what this is? Lunch meeting. I get to write off my lunch today.

Me: Really? You’re buying me lunch?

Guard: No! But as long as I eat my lunch within like, an hour or something, I can write it off! See?

Me: Oh… yeah. Well you should be careful. I have to file my taxes as a business owner, and it can be tricky.

(Guard keeps interrupting me, but eventually:)

Me: For example, we have a home office where I do a lot of my work, but we also have a bed in there for guests, so it’s not a writeoff. There are some really strict rules…

Guard: Oh yeah. Yeah. I know. My wife wanted to put a couch in my office, I was like, “no way”. So we only put it in there when people come over, but if we ever get audited or something, ain’t gonna be no couch in the office.

…

You get the idea.

OK. So why was it worth my time to type all of this out?

Am I just venting?

Well, I AM venting a bit. This guy is getting paid with MY tax dollars to protect the people upstairs — or possibly to protect the world from what they’re doing (should I be nervous that the Department of Homeland Security thinks they need extra protection?) — and he’s using his time to try and sell me on what appears to be a pyramid scheme.

But our little chat got me to thinking. That was only one of at least three conversations so far this week (it’s only Wednesday) where people hinted at stretching the rules when it comes to their taxes.

I say ’stretching the rules’ because I think that each of these people would say that that’s all they’re doing. Or worse yet, I think they may even be in denial about whether they are breaking any law at all.

Have you ever done that? You have a very uneasy feeling about something and you’re pretty sure that if you think it through you’ll come to the conclusion that it’s wrong. So what do you do? You refuse to think it through. You hurry up and change the subject in your mind so that later you can convince yourself that you didn’t do anything wrong — you just didn’t realize it would cause trouble.

Psychology has a big term for this: cognitive dissonance

Lots of syllables, but really, it just means that you’re lying to yourself.

And my conversations this week reinforced what the Bible has been teaching me for a while now: “Little Sins” have devastating consequences.

That security guard is barely a grain of sand on the beach of our budget problems in America.

What’s the harm in one guy getting away with, say, an extra thousand bucks?

Well, how about if we ask a different question:

How might this country be different if everyone were completely honest on their taxes?

What if our government had a few extra BILLION dollars to work with this year?

I reject the objection that just came into your head: “Why should I worry about how much money I give my government if they never use it the way I want?“

You don’t get to say that.

Why?

Because:

1) That’s an over-simplification and you know it

and

2) Jesus didn’t leave that as an option

What did He say about taxes? “Render unto Caesar…“

Have you ever considered that He said this at a time when taxes were absolutely, BRUTALLY unreasonable? People lived in poverty because of the outrageously unfair tax rates. AND, that tax money was used for blatantly immoral causes, including brutal war and even idol worship. It was EVEN used as a form of worship to Caesar as god. It was EVEN used to torture accused criminals (think crucifixion).

And when Jesus sent Peter to pay his temple tax, He was paying the salaries of the men who were going to stop at nothing to KILL Him.

But when Jesus was asked the question, He didn’t say, “Well, it’s nuanced. It’s complicated. There are lots of details to consider….“

He said, “Pay it.”

Paul, in Romans 13, even goes so far as to say that every authority is given his authority by God, and that we should submit to the rule of our authorities as if submitting to God.

He wrote this to Christians who would be burned at the steak BY their authorities.

So, now that you don’t have your objection, I ask again: What if several billion dollars were available this year to deal with homelessness, child poverty, child obesity, teen pregnancy, Haiti, Chile…

What if it were available to setup a child mentoring program to keep kids from growing up and becoming criminals, and that caused our prisoner population to shrink, and that saved us even more money…

What if there were an exponential chain reaction?

What if this statement is true: People who cheat “a little” on their taxes CAUSE homelessness, drug abuse, crime, violence, and poverty.

Are you OK with that?

Are you OK with being casual about your level of honesty?

Really?

I’ll give you another example from this week. At our small group (a ’small group’ is what our church calls the hundreds of Bible studies that meet in people’s homes across RDU) we have been studying through the book of Ephesians (as our pastor has been preaching through it).

A few weeks back we looked at Ephesians 4, where you’ll find this intense exhortation from Paul:

…do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…

All by itself, this seems kind of cryptic. How do you grieve a spirit?

But look at it on context:

V 29: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

V 30: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption

V 31: Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Do you see it?

‘Grieving The Holy Spirit’ has to do with what comes out of our mouths: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice.

I think there are many of us who would say that we try not to commit any ‘big’ sins. We don’t kill, steal, or commit adultery.

Yeah? But what did you say about your least favorite politician or political party this week?

It does JUST as much damage.

It makes the Holy Spirit of God feel grief.

Recently, Paul Tripp came to speak at our church. He said that life is made up of ‘mundane moments’.

Similarly, I think our mark on the world is made by the ‘little’ decisions we make.

Every. Single. Day.

Interesting how they’ve changed their story over the years…

Their slogan back then was pretty interesting as well:  “Every child a wanted child”

I guess it just depends on what they meant by that…

(HT Z)

I’m 27 years old, and I can’t remember a time in my life that was so simultaneously exciting and uncertain.

(I’m hopeful that some of you will actually read this, so I’ll resist the urge to leave you a 3-page brain dump attempting to fully-qualify that statement. If you want the long version, give me a call and let’s go drink some burnt coffee!)

The summary version is: In the last four years I’ve gone from

poised college graduate with an engineering degree from a great school, a healthy routine, a (fairly) clear vision, and a fruitful life

to

an excited frontier missionary to a borderline third-world, closed country, on track to be international staff for a college ministry

to

a somewhat depressed and lonely missionary to a borderline third-world, ice cold, darkness-enshrouded, closed country

to

a 23-year-old who was recently kicked out of said third-world country who lives with his parents, has no job, and needs 128 dollars to fill up his gas tank (seriously)

to

a love-struck, head-over-heals 23-year-old who often drove 400 miles in a day in my courtship  of the only girl I ever loved

to

a 24-year-old newlywed who doesn’t know the first thing about marriage trying to work a full-time software job under managers who don’t like me while also trying to be a borderline not-quite-full-time youth pastor at a church plant with some great people but some fundamental gaps

to

a 26-year-old in the middle of a theological paradigm shift with a whole new (though less clear) vision for life, on the hunt for a safe church environment for my family (which now includes a baby) and for some good friends for myself and my wife (which are MUCH harder to find than I ever imagined earlier in life)

to

a 27-year-old recovering former fundamentalist-turned-calvinist, in the process of becoming a member of a baptist church (that I’ve known about for years but was too brick-headed to ever visit) with my fourth family member cooking growing in my wife (who is becoming exponentially more beautiful with time)

Suffice to say: it’s been one heck of a roller-coaster.

And this could be the beginning of a book, but I really just wanted to share something:

This whole time – from the moment I graduated from college (where Campus Crusade For Christ did a great job of helping me stay around Godly men I could learn from), I was searching for someone to speak some Truth to me.

Don’t get me wrong: my parents and friends and family are great and they give me great advice. But I was looking for someone who had been down the road I want to go down. Someone I could check in with from time to time to get advice, encouragement, and (probably most importantly) rebuke. I love the “follow your heart” type of encouragement you get from a parent, but I also want someone to ask me hard questions. I want someone to burst my bubble when it needs to be burst.

I’ve heard it said before that a friend is someone who will stab you in the front. I think there’s some truth to that I can’t remember the last constructive criticism I got.

So I was looking for some dudes I could have that kind of relationship with.

And I don’t mean I would sit at Starbucks and pray, “OK God. Send me someone to give me some wise council.”

I was banging down doors.

I was begging people to make time to spend with me.

I called pastors I had never even met and asked if they could make some time to talk to me.

And they said no.

Even when I was overseas and I really needed some training about how to do my job there, I asked our team leader if he could make some time to train me.

But he said it wouldn’t be worth the investment since my commitment was only a year.

I once wrote on facebook that finding a mentor is harder than I thought it would be and almost ALL of the feedback I received was negative. Some people were offended that I didn’t consider them my mentor. Some people said you don’t need a mentor because you have the Holy Spirit. Some people said that you don’t have to spend time with someone to learn from them.

So, eventually, I kind of gave up.

I know that’s weak; but it’s honest.

I figured trial and error (also known as ‘learn everything the hard way‘) would be my best alternative.

And to be honest, I still find myself pretty much in that place.

Even as recently as a couple of months ago I contacted one of the pastors at my church. He was willing to meet with me once and I basically told him where I’ve been, and where I think God is leading me. He listened and gave me some helpful feedback, but I don’t think that’ll become a common occurrence. (I actually had to communicate with his secretary just to get a date scheduled)

So, what’s the point of this post? Is it just a big whine fest?

No. I hope not. I’m sharing all this because of a blog post from Mark Driscoll that I read today.

Celebrating the 14th anniversary of Mars Hill Church by taking a look back, he gives a list of things he learned and things he wishes he had done differently.

First major lesson?

He says:

First, I needed more training and should have waited a few more years. Had I to do it over again, I would not have given up looking for a godly older pastor to help sand off my rough edges and help me get ready not just to start a church, but lead it well for a lifetime. I had tried a few older men and each relationship went badly, so I gave up trying to be rebuked, mentored, and trained. But I should have persevered in that effort.

Sound familiar?

This encourages me for 2 reasons:

1) I’m encouraged to know that I’m not fundamentally broken to the point that nobody wants to hang out with me my experience hasn’t been totally unique. Someone else out there has struggled with the same thing.

and

2) What do you know, but he actually has some advice (about looking for advice): keep looking.

And I think he’s right.

So I’m going to keep looking.

Can you relate?

Any thoughts?

Any… advice?

“The abortion industry kills as many BLACK people every four days as the klan killed in 150 years.”

He was quoting from this article, the meat of which says:

Presently, America’s pregnancy help centers are set up in predominantly white, suburban, and small-town communities. This reflects the demographics of our current movement. But long ago, Planned Parenthood explicitly identified its profit centers: “young women, low-income women, and women of color” (Planned Parenthood Plan of Action, 1997). Studies show that 62.5% of Planned Parenthood facilities are located in cities where Blacks represent a higher percentage of the population compared to the overall population of the state. (LifeIssues.org/connector/display.asp?page=05oct.htm)
Black women, who represent 12% of the female population, suffer 36% of all abortions. Latina women represent 13% of the female population but suffer another 20% of all abortions. Together, they suffer 56% of all abortions yet they represent only 25% of our nation’s population.
Rev. Clenard Childress, Northeast Region President of the Life Education And Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.), explains the numbers: “The abortion industry kills as many Black people every four days as the Klan killed in 150 years. Since 1973, legal abortion has killed more Blacks than AIDS, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and violent crime combined.”

(emphasis mine)

Absolutely everything written here is fact. There is nothing about it that represents opinion. So, while abortion is a very touchy issue — and one dear to my heart as I have personally seen the effects in the lives of those I love — I felt comfortable passing on the statement as one of sobering truth…

However, I was discouraged to have a pretty angry comment form someone I haven’t spoken to since high school:

“That’s not even a fair conparison and I think it’s In poor light to put them in the same category. Planned parenthood is an abortion Industry giant?? Yea that’s when I stop reading the article. Get real man, educating people about their options is the only way to help them make an informed decision. It’s one thing to enjoy and express your religion, don’t throw everyone else under the bus.”

Since facebook has some pretty significant length restrictions, and since I can’t access while I’m at work, and also so that others who don’t happen to be our friends on facebook can be a part of the dialog, I decided to respond here.

So, here is my response:

Gray,

Thanks for your thoughts! I have to admit, I saddened that we’ve been friends on facebook for months, and the first time you decided to contact me was to chastise me for passing along someone else’s quote.

How are you doing? I hear you’re working for Apple now! Congrats! You must have really busted your but in college! (Can you hook me up w/ a new macbook? — Sorry, had to ask)

Since you seem offended by the statement I posted, I would like to clarify a couple of things and the respond to you, if that’s OK.

First of all, I’m not that guy who thinks we should picket abortion clinics and put cheesy bumper stickers on our cars to ostracize those who have made regretful decisions. I know that abortion is a deep topic, and that for those who have experienced it in any way, it is very, very personal.

This post is not really meant to stir up the dialog about whether abortion is acceptable or not. It seems that those who want to support abortion refuse to believe that an unborn infant is a true human being, and no amount of reasoning is ever enough to move past this step. This flies in the face of the fact that the human brain is incapable of understanding why we should save one 18-week-old ‘fetus’ and dismember another, or why we should mourn a miscarriage of one baby but applaud the ‘termination’ of another.

Nevertheless, a few typed words on a screen do not suffice to thoroughly discuss such a weighty topic.

The purpose of sharing this info was to bring light to how racially imbalanced abortion is, and that this is very intentional.

So, that said, let me respond to your comments:

That’s not even a fair conparison and I think it’s In poor light to put them in the same category. Planned parenthood is an abortion Industry giant?? Yea that’s when I stop reading the article.

OK. You say that it isn’t a fair comparison, but you actually don’t give me any reasons to support that statement. You say that it’s ‘poor light’ to put them in the same category, but why? It’s sad, to be sure. It exposes a painful and disappointing truth, but is it dishonest? You said that you stopped reading the article, so maybe if you read it you might be challenged to change your mind.

Or, perhaps you feel like the article might be misinformed or imbalanced. In that case, I would simply encourage you to head over to wikipedia. Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to read about planned parenthood, and its founder, Margaret Sanger. You will find, right there in completely secular, un-biased black and white text that Margeret Sanger was a lifetime proponent of eugenics, and she founded planned parenthood (call the American Birth Control League, at the time) with the explicit intention of reducing the number of ‘unfit’ people in our society, particularly minorities. The KKK was actually influential in helping her get it started.

She petitioned our government to:

Apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.^[20]

And her first pamphlet read:

It is a vicious cycle; ignorance breeds poverty and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them. Herein lies the key of civilization. For upon the foundation of an enlightened and voluntary motherhood shall a future civilization emerge.^[21]

There you go amigo. I understand that the truth expressed her is very inflammatory, but not everything that is inflammatory should be withheld from expression. It was inflammatory for a german to speak out against Hitler when he was in power. I’m sure that those who supported him were offended. But when human life — when social injustice targetted at a whole race — is at stake, I believe that being inflammatory is necessary.

As one of my favorite songs says: “I join the oppressors of those I choose to ignore.”

Are you sure you’re not just blowing this off for convenience sake? At least make sure you educate yourself before you do!

As far as your remarks about making an informed decision, I would direct you to the recent news story about how the director of Planned Parenthood resigned because she was being pressured to produce more abortion income from her clinic. They were trying to help their patients make an ‘informed decision’, much like a care salesman wants to help you make an ‘informed decision’ about buying his cars.

And lastly, you said

It’s one thing to enjoy and express your religion, don’t throw everyone else under the bus.

Please note that absolutely nothing ‘religious’ at all has been written here. Nothing. If you disagree, then please help me out. What is religious about this? I’m simply stating this collection of facts: Plannaed Parenthood is a profit-seeking company that was founded with the intention of reducing the population of minorities in America and has successfully done so by killing more Blacks in the last 30 years than AIDS, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and violent crime combined.

If that seems offensive, it should be. It should break our hearts.

Doesn’t it break yours?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Maybe it’s because I grew up in southern California where there weren’t many trees and they didn’t really look all that cool when they changed, but the Fall in NC always blows me away!

My favorite thing about it is that the leaves aren’t actually becoming another color; the beautiful reds and yellows are actually there all year-round, but green chlorophyll covers the beautiful diversity. It is literally in their dying season when the leaves show their ‘true colors’.

It always brings to my mind the words of Jesus in John 12:24-25

Truly, truly, I say to you,^(AD) unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ^(AE) Whoever loves his life loses it, and^(AF) whoever^(AG) hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

It seems God designed everything — even us — to be most beautiful when we think we’re losing our grip on the tree of life… God did everything so intensely!

Anyways, here is my favorite Fall picture so far this year:

And since I haven’t had much time to get out and photograph the Fall this year, here are two of my favorites from this time last year:

Here’s a post I wrote at this time last year that is still just as applicable today…

Where have you seen the prettiest Fall colors?

In case you’re on a mobile device or behind an office filter that blocks the picture, the article begins:

Islamists in Somalia have stoned a man to death for adultery but spared his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth.

I am surprised that the BBC considered this story to be worthy of their main RSS feed, and I applaud them for posting something that is actually worthy of our consideration…

In a culture where the headlines are usually dominated by celebrity gossip and the latest tech toys — which, I confess, are as appealing to me as they are to you — It is rare and refreshing to be reminded about the harsh realities of the world.

I recognize that that statement seems contradictory.

What is refreshing about remembering the world’s harsh realities?

Well, for one thing, it puts things in perspective.

A 13-year-old girl was raped, and then legally murdered for having unwillingly committed the “crime” of adultery.

And this all happened in accordance with and submission to Islam – a global religion boasting 1-2 billion members around the world.

And it happens

every

single

day

Think about that for a minute.

Suddenly that rumor you heard about yourself isn’t such a big deal…

Suddenly the bitterness of being overlooked at work seems kind of petty and stupid…

Suddenly the freedom to go hear the Gospel proclaimed seems glorious, and the 30-minute drive isn’t as bad as you made it out to be…

And suddenly God’s grace…

Wow.

Stops you dead in your tracks.

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God’s grace.

Before you consider the temptation to chalk this up to a corrupt culture, please consider that in Somalia, a woman committed adultery and they are going to kill the woman and ’save’ the child from her sin.

If this had happened in America, there’s a strong likelihood that the parents would kill the child to ’save’ the mother from the effects of her sin.

But sin is sin and murder is still murder, no matter what culture you live in.

And that’s why God’s grace is so AMAZING.

That 13-year-old girl wasn’t guilty of adultery.

But I am.

She didn’t deserved to be killed for her sin.

But I do.

And those cowards who hide behind their religion and stand with their smug sense of self-righteousness in judgment over those who are innocent?

I have heard and understood the Gospel, and experienced God’s grace, and I still commit the same sins.

And yet God shows me GRACE.

He sent Jesus to absorb all the wrath I justly deserve.

…and all the wrath that those Somali cowards who did this deserve.

He sent Jesus to absorb all the wrath that YOU deserve.

This is the beauty of the Gospel! Religion tells you that you have to do things to earn your righteousness, so that then you can judge other people.

But the Gospel is the Good News that you can NEVER earn your righteousness, and that’s why Jesus came!

He opened the door to God’s grace!

Have you looked in to it?

That lizard in the photo above: it’s called the “Jesus Christ” lizard.

Seriously.

Why?

Because it can walk on water.

From the article:

They drop into the water and then run across it, earning the lizards their nickname, the “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ” lizard.

Exactly how they do so is revealed by the slow-motion, high-definition footage taken at 2,000 frames per second.

“Because they run so fast they create a bubble as their feet hit the water and then they push off from this bubble before it bursts,” says Simon Blakeney, a producer on the Life series who helped direct and film the footage of both reptiles.

“They can only run at that speed. If they were going any slower, for example, they wouldn’t stay upright, they would slip into the water and would have to swim.”

How insanely awesome is that?

And then there’s this little guy, the pygmy gecko:

Again, from the article:

At just 2 to 4cm long from head to tail, the Brazilian pygmy gecko (Coleodactylus amazonicus) could be battered by a raindrop and risk drowning in even the smallest pool of water.

So it has evolved to be essentially waterproof, which in turn allows it to walk across the surface of any puddle it encounters.

Can you imagine God’s creative process?

“This guy will be fun. I’m going to make him especially sensitive to water and then give him the ability to walk right across the top of it. Scientists will have a blast coming up with a theory on how this works…”

So awesome.

He made you, by the way…

Derek Webb is one of the best musicians that you’ve probably never heard of.

He has a niche of followers who love his music and wrestle with his message, but I’ll bet that if you’re over 25 and reading this, then the name is new to you.

If that’s the case, do yourself a favor and go get one of his albums. Any one will do.

You don’t even have to risk spending your money on something that you may not like! Derek is actually the founder of NoiseTrade, where you can download an album for any price you’re willing pay, or for free if you’re willing to recommend it to five friends!

I’ve been enjoying Derek’s music since he came and performed at NC State several years ago. I remember sitting at Derr track and watching him — nothing but a mic, a guitar, an amp, and some pedals — introduce me to “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2…

A so-called ‘christian’ artist singing a U2 song that has nothing to do with Jesus.

Was this a mistake?

Were the Campus Crusade staff people scrambling to huddle up and figure out what to do?

And so began a long series of lessons that Derek Webb has been instrumental in my learning.

His music constantly challenges me to think rightly about the Church, culture, morality, and Jesus.

He has helped me love the difference between those four words, and their interrelation.

My new favorite song, from his last album (not his newest album), is called “This Too Shall Be Made Right“.

It’s a recongition that this earthly kingdom is broken, but that it won’t always be.

It’s a song of mourning and hope.

Reality and optimism.

One verse says:

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made right

I think of so many people I love when I hear those words.

Another verse says:

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right

Ouch!

This about what happened in Indonesia this week. And how much was that coffee you’re drinking?

You can read all the lyrics here.

Do you have a favorite Derek Webb song?

One really good idea that the folks at Mars Hill Church have implemented is a question and answer session after various sermons.

The way it works is that listeners can text questions during the sermon, and someone backstage collects and filters the questions, and then delivers them to the pastor at the end of the sermon to answer on-the-fly.

Of course this is risky, because it leaves the possibility for the pastor to get totally blind-sided by strange or uncomfortable questions. But it is also a very useful idea, because it gives people the opportunity to ask real questions that the sermon brings to mind, and for everyone to benefit by hearing the answer.

A couple of months ago, during a sermon series on the Song of Salomon — during which pastor Mark taught a lot about relationships and biblical manhood and womanhood — the following question was asked:

My boyfriend went to Vegas for a bachelor party. He went to a strip club. Do I have a right to be mad?

I think pastor Mark’s answer is really, really helpful.

So many guys I know struggle with temptations toward lust and pornography, and our culture makes that feel so normal and acceptable. It feels like such a victimless crime — like an innocent vice.

Take five minutes and watch the video of pastor Mark’s response, and let him push back hard against those lies.

(I couldn’t figure out how to embed the video, so you’ll have to watch it at the Mars Hill blog — just use the link!)

If you consider yourself to be a follower of Jesus, or someone interested in God in any capacity, I highly recommend that you take a minute and go read it.

The idea that God is ’sovereign’ is commonly thrown around and disputed in christian circles…

Some will throw the word around without even understanding its meaning, while others will argue about its meaning.

The Desiring God article begins with this definition for ‘the sovereignty of God‘:

We believe that God upholds and governs all things—from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons—all in accord with His eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself, yet in such a way that He never sins, nor ever condemns a person unjustly; but that His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with the moral accountability of all persons created in His image.

Do you believe that?

Really?

I struggle to…

I grew up in a stream of christianity that would probably push back against this definition.

As a freshman in college I encountered people who thought and talked this way, and it upset me. I wrestled for years with this understanding of God’s nature and character.

But over the years, my study of the scriptures and my experience with God have led me to confidently affirm this way of understanding God, and that transformation has dramatically changed my perspective as well as my lifestyle.

I want to challenge you: have you ever considered the sovereignty of God? Have you wrestled with it? Are your beliefs on the matter in keeping with the Scriptures, or have you done your best to tag this topic as ‘controversial‘ and avoid it because you don’t like it?

You might be missing out on some of the most exciting Truth in the Bible.

And as Tozer wrote: “What you believe when you think of God is the most important thing about you.”

So don’t take it lightly…

Got any thoughts on this?

When Stephanie told me sometime in early April that she was thinking about running a half-marathon this year, I thought she had good intentions, but I figured she probably didn’t realize what was involved.

Then she ran a couple of short runs and her knees were killing her, so I figured it was definitely out of the question.

But the girl was persistent!

We went to some running experts and got some new shoes that helped her knees a lot. I told her that if she was really serious about this, she should probably do a lot of walking for a couple of weeks to get her body adjusted

So she started walking.

And she went online, found a half-marathon training schedule, put it on the calendar, and when the day came to get back on the running horse, she did it.

And she stuck with it.

For 13 weeks.

13 weeks of getting up early or eating dinner and going to bed late so we could run together.

13 weeks of long Saturday runs that required a babysitter and that often took a toll on our dating (yes, we are most definitely still dating!)

13 weeks of constantly wondering if she would be able to finish the race.

And she pushed her goal up twice in the process.

First the goal was just to finish.

Then the goal was to finish without walking.

Then the goal was to finish in 3 hours.

Well, this past Sunday, with our parents and Steph’s grandparents for company, we ran that puppy in 3 hours and 5 minutes.

My hat’s off to you honey.

You’re my hero!

(There are a bunch of pics after the jump. Go ahead. Click. I dare you.)

Josiah was in a great mood all weekend

We found this very cool (and super pricey) doggy boutique. There was a big mirror, so…

Josiah got to hang out with his grandparents on both sides, and his great-grandparents!

He was trying to figure everything out

And he loves spending time with his grandpa

The whole gang, minus the photographer…

We had to go to the Va Beach Convention Center the day before the race to register. There was *crazy* traffic trying to get through the only tunnel that gets you there….

After we registered, we had fun taking random pictures. Who are these short people?

I thought this was a cool frame for a picture…

Steph always take a better shot though…

I took a picture of the porta-potties because it always cracks me up how 20,000 runners all try to use the bathroom right before the race. The next morning, there was a 30-minute wait to use one of these puppies.

There’s the starting line!

And this was just a half mile or so before we crossed the finish!

Who hasn’t asked themselves this question?

I know Stephanie and I have had several heated arguments about this.

I say, “Hey, we all know those crazy people next door wont be going. They’ll surely take care of the animals.”

Then she gets upset and contends that, surely, all dogs go to heaven.

…

OK. Enough with the sarcasm.

We actually don’t even own any animals. We have very loose beliefs about the reality and nature of the rapture. And if it does happen, I hope with all my heart that our neighbors won’t be here afterwards.

But of all the crazy products and services available these days*,  I bet you’ve never heard of Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA.

Take ultra-opportunistic American capitalism, add diverging worldviews, and you get a service offered by atheists, specifically for pre-millennial evangelical christians.

No seriously.

See for yourself:

They introduce their service like this:

You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved.  But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind?   Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.

They go on:

We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each
Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you’ve received your reward.  Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

We are currently active in 20 states and growing.  Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to  rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet’s natural life.

This would be a hilarious joke, except I’m pretty sure they’re serious…

Which makes it tragic…

Someday, these people will stand before God, and they will have nothing to say. The weight of regret for their ignorance and arrogance will be intolerable in the presence of a God Who does not stand to be mocked.

And all of us christians who mis-represent Jesus –

-who make Him look weak and marginalized and culturally irrelevant

-who fail to communicate with our lives the weight of sin and the glory of the cross

-who make these people feel comfortable believing that followers of Jesus are simple-minded fools who follow a tinkling bell

…what will we do on that day?

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*The ‘Snuggie’ is a great example, as Mike points out.