View from the Pew, Part 1

Here I am introducing a, hopefully, recurring feature. Every once in a while I get distracted during the sermon and start flipping through my Bible and see where I end up. Sometimes I'll let scripture take me on a little journey through some connected verses. Here I'll talk about some of these passages. Please comments as you'd like.

The first is from Isaiah 63:9. It says:

In all their distress he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.

I was floored by the very first line. The God of the universe sees the distress of His people and shares in their distress. Is there no greater love than this. The writers of the New Testament used the work agape to describe this kind of love. This us the love that cares more for the pain and distress of others.  I can't help but think of a friend of mine going through a very difficult time.  I have felt their pain so many times and realized that I was starting to understand agape when I began to ask God to let me bear this pain instead of them.  This is what God was telling the nation of Israel through the prophet.  God is feeling my hurts and pains, my stress and insecurities.  In my most difficult times, I am never, never alone.  God is not only there with me, but He takes my pain on Himself.

A friend tells me of a dream they had.  In the darkness of a tunnel they could go no farther.  Just at the moment of giving up hope, God appears and carries my friend to safety.  I was reminded of that story when I came to this last line. "He lifted them up and carried them..."  When I cannot go one step farther, God carries me, maybe like a baby, maybe like a soldier carrying a wounded comrade, a Shepherd carrying a wounded lamb.  My God, My Saviour.  What love, what mercy, what grace.  That God would care for a messed up, rebellious sinner such as I.  I am humbled and bowed before such a God as this.

Hoping you Calvinists have a sense of humor

This was posted on the internetmonk blog. It's a really great site and well worth a visit. This song is a little funny piece and is not meant to mock Calvinists. If you are offended just consider that it might be God's sovereign will that this was posted. Enjoy.

Sophomore's Rule (this time)

The sophomore's ruled the Christmas skits this year. (It hurt, I was involved in both the Senior and Junior skits)  Well done. Here is the link to their video. Funniest I've seen at King's. Enjoy.

TKCS dance! from Zacsirav0 on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

Ah, the first day of vacation!! Over two whole weeks this year. I am looking forward to a much calmer run up to Christmas Day instead of only the one day we usually get. So we should have plenty of time to get everything done, unless I spend the time watching Fox Soccer Channel or the Arrested Development box sets. I think this may be the year I actually miss the students a bit. See you all in 2009. Its going to be great to spend a bunch of lazy time with Robin and the boys after so many weeks of burning candles at both ends. So Merry Xmas everyone.

Toronto Missions Blog

Hey.  Thought I'd point you over to the blog for the Toronto Missions Team.  Robin and I will be leading a team of seven terrific high school students from King's to minister with CSM in Canada during Easter break next spring.  Check in and see what's going on.

JYO or JOY

This year I have been thinking quite a bit about the nature of love. It is well known that the Bible uses three Greek words for love: eros, phileo and agape. I think these first two are somewhat natural, they seem hardwired into our human nature.  To love physically, to be stimulated and adore the person in a way described by eros or to feel the concern and caring for another human being on the basis of a shared creation in God's image, as in phileo, are not easy to be sure, because they do require us to think outside of our selfish natures.  But there is something super-human about agape.  Agape is that the self-sacrificing love for someone without any benefit to yourself.  It is the direct opposite of selfishness because it gives up any claim for the self.  It does not care about the nature of the one who is loved.

So where does this kind of love come from?  It certainly cannot come from within us.  Our depraved sin natures are incapable of this kind of love.  I was intrigued by the command in the Matthew's gospel.  Jesus tells us to "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:39)  I realized something remarkable that I hadn't noticed before, which is the implication in those last two words.  If we are to love others, we must first love ourselves.  We usually think of this as the epitome of self-centeredness. But here Jesus tells us that in order to love others, we must find an equal measure of love for ourselves. Now I spent the better part of high school and college hating myself.  To the point when someone said I should just be myself, a said "Why? I fu#*ing hate myself."  So where does this love come from?  How can we move from self-centeredness or self-loathing to and agape love of self?

It certainly comes from nowhere within ourselves.  But look what John tells us in his first letter. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (I John 3:16)  It is only when we can understand that God loves us, the real us, the messed up, selfish, sinning, rebellious us.  He loves us when we ignore Him, when we turn away from Him in disgust and when we spit in His face.  He loves us even when we have no idea why to love ourselves and loves us without expecting anything in return.  In all of this we are faced with one inescapable fact: We are worth the love of God. My goodness, the all-powerful, creator and sustainer of the universe God sees me and says "I love you!"  There is something about me that is worthy of God's love and that is something I find almost unbelievable.

It is this that becomes the basis for our love of others.  If God can love even me, then God can love anyone.  I can love anyone because God sees something worthy in them, too.  I know that because He found something worthy in me. 

When we consider the meaning of love, we need to change around that common acronym of  JOY.  We have typically explained it as Jesus-Others-You.  But this is not the way the Bible describes love.  Love begins with God's agape love for me, which leads to my love for myself, which leads to my love for others.  It is only when we pervert love to what it provides me instead of what I do for others, that this sequence, Jesus-You-Others, becomes unbiblical.  I have found true love in God's love for me.  In this I am able to find meaning and worth in myself.  It is only then that I can truly love others.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all a happy Thanksgiving. It's times like these that I reflect back on the year and thank God for all I have and all the things God has blessed me with.

To Write Love On Her Arms

Last Monday, I traveled over to a coffeehouse in Newtown Square in Pennsylvania (btw, I hate driving in the Philadelphia suburbs and I hate coffeehouses, a twofer) to attend an event by To Write Love On Her Arms.  TWLOHA is an awareness and support organization for people dealing with depression, suicide and self-injury.  I was a very moving experience. I got there about twenty minutes early and the place was already filled.  They ended up holding two events simultaneously.  For those of us outside, Josh Moore and Zach Williams sang, standing on flimsy chairs while we all shivered in the cold.  Inside, they held a talk about the organization and the work they do.  Halfway through they switched.  At the end, we all went in for the question and answer session.  I was tremendously moved by the number of hurting people there and thinking about the hundreds and thousands from our area that weren't.  Many of these (mostly) teens had been through so much and were searching anywhere for hope in their lives.  I could describe more but watch this video about that night and pray for all those that are suffering.  They are all around you.  And God loves each and every one.

Oh and I know most of you read this blog through my Facebook Notes.  Please go to the actual blog by going here: http://www.jacksavidge.blogspot.com. You can watch the linked videos there.

Helpless

OK, so I have been a teacher at The King's Christian School, my alma mater, for going on six years now, three years teaching 5th grade, one year teaching both 5th grade and high school and now in my 2nd year teaching only high school.  For a variety of reasons, mostly that I had not felt I was making any impact on the students at all, during last school year I had resolved to not come back for this year.  I had done the research and had even filled out the application for Denver Seminary.  But for some reason, it just didn't feel right. 

So I asked God to let me make a difference.  I needed to be broken and realize that I really did care about my students, not just as young scholars, but to truly care about them.  What I did not anticipate was how unbelievably painful and hard this would be.  I have had to be open to hearing some things that are just hard to listen to, to open myself honestly about the stupidity of my past and to just listen.  What was most difficult was just not having many answers for these young men and women.  Now, here is what is so frustrating. I am a fixer.  Give me a problem and I'll give you a solution, maybe even one that works. But most times I am impotent to help at all.  And this week I realized something important, something transformative, something downright humbling.

I am helpless.  Helpless.  And in this I realized that God was waiting for me to realize this.  Helpless to fix each and every problem.  Helpless to say the right thing.  Helpless.  I realize now that in doing all I could to solve these problems I was pushing God away and inserting myself.  It was conceit and idolatry.  God wants me to embrace my helplessness so that his grace could come through.

So here I am, helpless.  I have resolved to meet God right here, where my helplessness meets His grace.  I think this is where He wants me.  I am scared, petrified, anxious.  But I am excited to see God's power at work.  

Please God, work through the messed up creature that is me and bring healing to these hurting kids.  I am helpless before You and pray that You meet me here.  I stand aside and ask that You take control.

The Worst Christian Video Ever

This has to be the very worst video ever.  And they wanted us to listen to this instead of Van Halen. And then Slipknot plays Sonseed and Sonseed plays Slipknot

"If you had it all to do over again...?"

I was recently talking with someone and shared a fair amount of my personal history.  He asked me this question, "If you had it all to do over again and knowing what you know now, would you do it all differently this time?"  Now let me preface this my saying that I have made some incredibly stupid and self-destructive choices in my life.  Like the prodigal son, who lived a life of "riotous living", I have put myself into some pretty low places.  But the story of my life does not end there.  By the unmerited love of God, I experienced His grace and forgiveness.  Now, in a certain respect, I would quickly answer my friend's question with a loud "YES!"  Of course I'd do it all differently.  To not go through the pain and loneliness that some of my choices led to, I'd love to have a second opportunity. But would I be able to love others the way I am able to without the journey I've made?  I don't know.  All I can say is thank you God for bringing me to this place in this time.  Thank you for the people I am able to touch and those that touch me with your boundless love.  Thank you for my pain for it has allowed me to know true love.

May God Bless You With Discomfort

I was amazed at the profound truth of this simple poem and wanted to share it.

 

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

 

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

 

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

 

AMEN AMEN & AMEN!!

from Simply Missional by chrismarlow

The Return of the Prodigal Son

I have just finished reading The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Henri Nouwen. This book is based on Nouwen's interaction with Rembrandt's painting of the same name, pactured here to the left. The painting is a depiction of the parable found in the Gospel According to Luke and tells the story of a son who rebels and returns, an older brother wracked by resentment and a father who pursues embraces his son in forgiveness and joy and unconditional love.

I was struck by the description of Nouwen's own journey as he meditates how he has seen himself as both sons and is learning to be more like the father. And I began to see myself also in the two sons, especially the younger. The love shown by the father as he embraces his son is something I have experienced at the darkest time, much as in the painting the father embraces his son, who is shown wearing rags, at his lowest. It is the tender love of the father, reassuring, comforting restoring.

What was particularly moving for me was the realization that we must move from being the son to the father. As Nouwen says, that sonship is preparation for taking on the role of the father. As we represent God to the world, we, I, must become like the father in the parable, grieving for and with the lost, unconditionally loving, pursuing and embracing, restoring the broken and then celebrating with joy the lost who is now found. Can I? I pray I can.

Reflections on David, Hypocrisy and Grace

I have been immersing myself this week in the Psalms. I am amazed not only with the diversity and beauty of the art, the theology and passion, the cry from the heart and the adoration of God, praise and plea. The psalms are something to be experienced.

As I read through them, I paid special attention to the many psalms of David. I realize how important it is to remember the stories of David's life as you experience his psalms. They are the backdrop, filling in the holes as David pours out his heart. Is there any more conflicted, complex figure in all of scripture as David. Peasant, king, musician, poet, warrior, polygamist, adulterer, murderer, Man after God's own heart.

Sometimes, knowing what I know about, my first reaction to David's psalms is "What!!! You have got to be kidding me!!! DAVID wrote this??? Where does he get off on writing this?" Its seems to be some of the most hypocritical statements found in scripture. Now remember David's story: Multiple marriages, adultery, fathering a child out of wedlock, trying to deceive the woman's husband and then having him killed, disobedience to God, rebellious children. David was certainly not perfect!

But he writes things like this:
"The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.
All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.
The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight." Psalm 18:20-24

There are many other passages like this in the Psalms. I wonder how David can stand like this as righteous. Because that is the same question we need to ask about ourselves. We may not be adulterers or murderers, but we all stand condemned because of our sin. By what right to we claim the salvation of God. The answer is simple: we have no right.

I then remember a tiny verse tucked into the middle of Psalm 103. In verse 10 David tells us "he (God) does not treat us as our sins deserve..." In this simple statement we find the Gospel. It is God and God only that deals with our sins, the sins that deserve punishment. Yet God removes our sin from us (verse 12). What is left but His righteousness. This is Grace at its simplest. God gives us the gift of righteousness when all re really deserve is the just punishment for our sins.

Oh, what a humbling, joyous little verse. The many things I have done that separate me from God, yet He has brought me too Him. By what right do I stand before God and say "I am clean" as David does? It is only because God has made me so. Oh wonderful Grace!! Of wonderful Love!!

I can't spell

So, ok. I know it, and I'm ok with it. Should you feel the need to berate me for my errors, go ahead, I can take it. At least make it clever so I can get a laugh out of it.

Learning to Trust God in the Darkest of TImes

I have been struggling with the issue of pain and suffering and where is God in it all. How do we as Christians trust God when God doesn't seem to be there. Probably the most famous instance of suffering in the Bible is the story of Job. Job underwent tremendous suffering of no fault of his own. Godly and upright, if anyone should not have suffered it was Job. Yet suffer he did. As we read through the book we see Job trying to make sense of it all. He finally ask God a simple question, Why? God's response is swift, terrifying, humbling and not at all what Job wanted. In a four chapter monologue, God basically tells Job that it is not his place to know for I am God and you are not. I always found this hard to take. I realize that God not requires from us our complete trust, to rely in no way on ourselves.

The second person is Joseph. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers, begins to excel with his owner and is unjustly accused by his master's wife. he finds himself in prison for fourteen years. In all that time, we never get any indication that God reveals to Joseph His purpose in Joseph's life or a reason for Joseph's suffering. It is not until many years later, when Joseph's brothers, whom he had saved from starvation, now fear that Joseph will finally take his revenge, that we find that Joseph has received his answer from God. He tells them, "What you meant for evil, God used for good."

Here we learn what it means to trust God. We must release our situation to an all-powerful God, the creator of the universe. We may not, and often do not, see God at work. We often lose faith but God never fails. When we see only evil, God is working the evil for good. This is the hardest aspect of our faith, to endure suffering without seeing the end.

For those in the midst of trials, take heart. God is with you. The God of creation is the God who cares for you. Trust Him, for He will never fail. Trust Him in your darkest time. God can do all things. He can heal all wounds and broken hearts, bring families together make His love known to you. Trust the God who loves unconditionally. It will be ok.

Life outside the door

My wife was slightly annoyed this summer to find that something was building a nest in the hanging planter one foot outside our front door. The plants she had meticulously planted and nurtured all spring had been matted down and replaced by a small igloo shaped nest. Yet we have been fascinated to see these two little Carolina wrens together build up, strengthen and fortify their nest. For the last few days the male has been continually bringing small bugs and worms to the nest, feeding the female and flying off, only to return with another in a few minutes. It has been a wonderful lesson in teamwork and caring for each other. I fill you all in when we have screaming little wrens in a few days.

Thoughts on the Book of Judges

My reading through the Bible recently took me to the book of Judges. What a wold ride that is. It has to be the most diverse, odd, inspiring, vulgar collections of stories. Its hard to tell who are the heroes and who aren't. Samson, the great man of God visiting a prostitute. A levite sends his concubine out to be gang raped. The execution of a whole community, man, women and child. The list goes on. Its hard to get a grip on what the whole point is. I think the key may be somewhere in the repeated phrase "and each man did what was right in his own mind." Here we see the results of man's desire for autonomy and rejection of any kind of collective, communal, revealed truth, ethics or morality. The situations in this book are the direct result of the sin of wanting freedom from God. How relevant is that to our own postmodern times!

Still more on the Prodigal Son

Have really been turning this one over in my head this month. I was thinking about the time between the Prodigal Son's decision to return home and that moment of embrace from the father. He sets off hoping only for survival, to stay alive and the most basic level. That whole way home, he expected nothing because he deserved nothing. The extent of his faith was very small. How surprised, then, to see his father running out to him, embracing him and honoring him. I think sometimes our faith is too small, we know that we deserve nothing from God and hope only for something small. Yet grace knows no limits. Oh the unreachable depths of God's grace. He gives us so much more than we can ever hope or imagine.

Vacation

Ah, three days away from everything. It was good to get away, just the wife and me. We celebrated 15 years of marriage. I definitively married up!! Love you , Robin.

US v. Barbados, Part 2

Forgot to comment on the return leg in the US soccer team's World Cup Qualifying. Having won the first leg 8-0, last Sunday's game was a forgone conclusion. But, good God, this was the best they could do? Come on. A totally unconvincing and incredibly boring 1-0 win. What a waste of my two hours. Thanks for that.

More thoughts on the prodigal son

A little while ago I posted first thoughts on the prodigal son. I was thinking today about the though process of the son that brought him from where he was at rock bottom to the act of moving towards home. On one level, the easiest thing to do is stay at the bottom, no effort is needed. Inevitably though it leads to destruction. Life only comes through the hard struggle to move off the bottom. The son only had hope that there was something better.

Shift to the Father. Remember that the son had essentially told his father that he wishes he was dead so he could gain his inheritance. Yet here was the Father, always waiting for that moment that his son would return. Lost in the story is this detail, the Father runs to his son. To do that he must hitch up his robe, the ultimate act of humiliation for a man of wealth. He removes his clothes and puts them on his son. He takes the tattered rags of his son and gives him something clean and magnificent.

How do you respond to this? There you see the grace of God. The father had done everything he had to do out of obligation in distributing the inheritance. Everything after that was grace, his son did not deserve any of it, yet the Father freely gives. And this God does for us. Gives us more than we expect or hope for, cleans us and restores us. We never once stopped being His sons and daughters. In all of the rebellion and rejection, God kept looking down that road, waiting for his son to return so that he could make all things new once again.

A glowing recommendation of God in the Dock

I am a little more through my first book I've set for my summer reading, C.S. Lewis' God in the Dock. This is a collection of essays on a number of theological topics. I can't say enough about this book. Lewis writes in such a unique way about these subjects, probably borne from his being a layman and not a theologian. The chapter on Miracles is one of the best I've read. Lewis brings a whole different way of looking around issues that will make you shake your head and wish you had thought of it that way.

Visual Bookshelf

I'll take a moment to comment on one of my favorite applications on Facebook. I added about 300 books that I've read in the past 8 or 9 years to Visual Bookshelf. I finally wrote reviews for all the books marked already read. I can finally get back to actually doing things around the house. Check out some of the books I've reviewed, there's a bunch of great ones in there.

Facebook Notes

I love that the blog posts can automatically post to the Notes feature on the Facebook Notes. Unfortunately, the feature doesn't work in reverse. I wish your posts and comments in Notes were cross-posted to the blog and comments on posts were cross-posted as well. Except for the helpful comments of my "friends" of course.

Reflections on the Prodigal Son

I did a bad job of explaining to a friend why this parable resonates deeply with me. For reference it is found in Luke 15. Read it over but note the context in which this story come up. I'll take that up later. The story is well know. The youngest son asks his father for his share of his father's estate. He wastes his money in wild living in another country and ends up feeding pigs and starving. He decides to head home and see if his father will take him back as a hired servant.

Right away we learn the heart of the son. In order to get his inheritance he essentially tells his father that he wishes his father was dead. he wanted hos father to have no part, no influence, no practical affect on his life at all. he wanted to be free to do what he wanted with complete freedom. Now he never denies that his father still lives, he's just irrelevant to the son.

Man, is that ever how I spent a good part of my early adult life. I knew God existed and even knew I was a child of God but that was pretty much the end of it. I took the opportunity to live a life free from God. Like in the parable, I ended up hitting rock bottom realizing the emptiness of my situation.

But maybe, just maybe, there is something better back home. Maybe there is something better. It was just a little bit of hope.

I'll stop there so this post isn't too long. Comment if you want to.

US v. Barbados

Well its a big jump from playing #1 Argentina one week to playing #121 Barbados the next. But it is World Cup Qualifying so it is important. How do you evaluate an 8-0 scoreline? You got to figure it was not a real evaluation of the talent on the US squad. It does set up the return match for next week as basically a foregone conclusion. And it was good for Brad Guzan to get a "competitive match" on his account for his next UK work permit application. Maybe he gets the nod again next week.

The Last Day

Well, drove out of the lot this afternoon with two kids and 97 (or so, Deb, what's up!!!) exams to finish grading and obviously got to thinking. I usually cannot wait to get out of school for the summer. I know teachers are supposed to live for it, but frankly, right now I'm just plain tired. However, I realize that some of these kids will not be back this year and any impact I could have on them is now passed. It got me to think about what I accomplished this year. Did I do enough? Did I show them Jesus or turn them away? Did I blow my one shot? Did I teach them anything of real value? Did my conversations encourage them or discourage them? I don't know how to answer these questions. Here is what I wish my students learned more than anything:

Did you know how much you are loved? That God loved you so much, that he values you so much that to have a relationship with you he suffered through the sacrifice of His Son. That Jesus cares so much that the pain of torture and death was worth less than the possibility that you would came back to him. Do you know how special you are? When friends hurt you, or piss you off, when you feel alone and abandoned, this you can know. God loves you. And so do I. God will do anything for you. And so will I. That God is passionate about you.

OK now. Let's put this to rest: I suck at spelling and grammar. I don't proofread well because I'm too lazy to do it. If that's my biggest flaw (truth be told, it isn't) I'm doing all right.

The Penultimate Day

Well, we stand here on the next to last day of the school year an thought I'd take a few minutes to comment on my fifth year as a teacher.

1. This was my first year as a full time High School teacher which has been very different. It was the first time I felt I actually got involved in the lives of my students (as much as a teacher can). Maybe that's the difference between being in the elementary school, or splitting my time between elementary and high school like last year, or maybe I just had a different attitude. I don't know what it was but I enjoyed the year immensely. I can actually say I loved all my students, even the ones that drove me crazy. I've said before that you must see teaching at Christian School like being in ministry, because the pay is crap if its just a teaching job.

2. I as so glad I'm not teaching science next year. With all apologies to my students, I didn't enjoy it much at all. That wasn't there fault, they were great and a whole lot of fun. I didn't feel qualified to teach them and I felt I let them down.

3. Our principal resigned after only a year. Gregg was a great leader for the teachers and he really cared about the students. In my mind its a big loss to the school. He was a great role model for me. And crap, I might have to start doing lesson plans again.

4. I get a little frustrated looking back on the year, because I see too many students that are like I was when I was a student at King's. Apathetic, especially spiritually, defensive. Standing where I do now, I forget that they are teenagers and I know that the way I was then does not define me forever, thank God. God does amazing things, i know that from experience.

5. I am so encouraged by the desire to know, serve and worship God. Comparing them to me at that age is humbling. The number of students willing to serve on mission trips, to complain about not enough chapel, etc. is amazing to me.

6. So next year there's a good chance I actually have a classroom. Frankly, wandering around from classroom to classroom really sucked.

Well that's a lot. I might add a part 2 later. God bless.

BTW, I ran it through spell check, so if there's any errors, get over it. I'm tired and have other stuff to do, so get over it!!!!

The Youth Are Revolting

I have now heard from many of my students that the spelling errors in my first post are something to be ashamed of. To any and all that were shocked to find that someone they only know as the brilliant scholar they interact with everyday has a flaw, I am truly sorry. Let it be known that my dyslexia does make spelling a challenge, but if they are okay with mocking my disability, I guess I can only pray for them. May God have mercy on your cold, dark souls. By the way, my blog is designed to foster theological discussion. Anyone want to comment on anything beside by demonstrable inability to spell? Anyone?

US v. Argentina

Just got done watching the US take on world #1 Argentina and had a few comments. The US played their best game in a long time, keeping with Argentina and taking it to them more than a few times. Tim Howard is far and away the US #1 keeper and played his butt off tonight. Freddie Adu shows again why he should be starting. Eddie Johnson showed why he shouldn't. Landon Donovan again showed how you can have amazing talent and not really make anyone around you better. All in all a very entertaining game.

A Trinity of Conscienceness

I have been thinking alot about how we are counscience of the world around us and came to an odd kind of Trinity of ideas that I want to flesh out more. At our most basic, our body's senses detect the world around us: sounds, smells, texture, images, etc. Our minds then interpret thoses stimuli: for example, that sound was a dog barking or a car horn or a human voice. Our soul then gives those stimuli meaning: that baby crying means it is tired or that person slumped over is sad.

I don't know it this is something significant or even interesting, just something I've been thinking about.

OK, so its been a while

Sorry for the long delay in a new post. School and other parts of real life have been very, very busy. It seems I went right from the South Africa missions trip to setting up the trips for next year to Senior trip to getting ready for finals. Throw in teaching every day and I am so ready for summer. Look for some substantive post starting today.

Would a loving God punish?

I was thinking through some of the questions I will be covering in this year's Apologetics class, including the question of whether a loving God would punish man in hell. I realized as I was thinking this through how little logic comes into the discussion of Apologetics, truth and postmodernism. I know postmodern epistomology embraces ambiguity and mystery, but the decision to abandon logic is a dangerous one. Taken to logical conclusions, some questions can not stand up.

Take this question. It begs the answer that if God is loving, He will not punish us for our mistakes. Supposing that God is indeed loving, hell beomes unnecessary. But logically, this leads to a corrolary that if we punish others for their mistakes, we are unGodly. In other words, if it is "wrong" for God to punish, it is "wrong" for us as well. Does anyone really believe this to be true?

Just a thought.

South Africa Mission Trip

Pray for the 2008 South Africa Mission Team from the King's Christian School. We take off on March 19 to Johannesburg, South Africa for 12 days of ministry. Check out the link to the mission team blog for updates and pictures.

The First Post

Welcome to my blog. God Lord, I've got a blog!! I'll try my best to post often, if not intelligently. If by some wierd series of events yo find yourself here, drop a note. Check back for some of my musings and thoughts on theology, the Bible and soccer.