Characteristics of Jesus' Love

I've started attending a spectacular class at church.  We are discussing how to grow in our Christian walk and in this first unit looking at faith, hope, and love - 14 of the chapters are on love!

The class has been so good because I am seeing new insights and thus areas in my own life that still need much cleaning up.

In the introduction we looked at the 12 characteristics of Christ's daily love for us.  A husband should be imitating all of these to his wife (just as Christ does the church) and all Christian men should be loving others in most of these ways:

1. Lavished in its expression
2. takes the Initiative
3. Purposeful
4. Practical
5. Self-Denying
6. Constant
7. Understanding
8. Realistic
9. Sympathetic
10. Exclusive
11. Zealous
12. Shepherding

I'm looking forward to writing more about what I'm learning.  I hope you enjoy following along.

TLI in Kenya

A 5 minute video giving an overview of the work of Training Leaders International, set in Kenya from a 2011 trip.

Teaching Others to Teach Others

At Training Leaders International, we follow the 2nd Timothy 2:2 model of teaching: "...and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."  Paul taught Timothy, and now Timothy will teach others who will go on and teach still others. 

In the process of teaching our curriculum, pastors and church leaders will come together for intensive study of selected portions of the word of God. They will be taught skills for interpreting the Bible, hear examples of expository sermons, and prepare and preach sermons based on what they have learned and observed. They will be given feedback on their own preaching to help them know what they are doing right and what they need to work on. Over a period of three to four years, meeting three times a year, the learners will have gained enough knowledge and done enough practice to be able to more accurately interpret, preach and teach the Word of God. They will also be able to use what they have learned to train others.

Through out the duration of our curriculum, the learners will be helped to gain a better grasp of God’s word by being able to better observe, interpret and apply the Bible in their particular culture. There will also be a focus on their ability to communicate the word of God. They will learn how to more effectively take a text, develop it into a sermon, and communicate it in a way that is easily understood.

You can read more about our curriculum on the TLI blog where we briefly introduce readers to the accessibility, structure, multiplication, and group size of our teaching.

Pakistan, Afghan and American foreign policy made simple

Very informative essay here by Stephen Masty on foreign policy in Asia:

Many of our readers ask how they can understand the complex world of diplomacy and geopolitical strategy, and how they might explain it to their children. It is not nearly as difficult as it seems, and this short and clear introduction uses simple facts from current news coverage.

This week the Pakistan Army has been shelling civilian villages in Afghanistan, presumably to teach the Afghans just who runs the region. This week the Pakistan Army has also been removing Pakistanis from Khyber villages on their side of the border, before invading those areas to kill Taliban insurgents. The Pakistanis pay the Taliban who terrorise Afghan villages, and the Pakistanis shell the same Afghan villages that the Taliban terrorise, and now they are about to attack the Taliban as well. This means that the Pakistanis are fighting on both sides, or in other words, fighting themselves.

.....

Most foreign people know that a war between America and Pakistan is highly unlikely, and most know that President Karzai is often a bit stressed-out: after all, his American allies are subsidising his enemies, the Taliban, through Pakistan and their own US contractors. So most people think that Mr. Karazai got a little over-wrought, and over-did it trying to convince Pakistan that he means no harm. However, there is now a distinct possibility that Afghan President Karzai may have to declare war on Afghanistan, his own country, and this would be something of a first.

Few if any countries have formally declared war against themselves. The Bush and Obama administrations, for example, prosecuted undeclared wars against portions of America (i.e., savers, the middle-classes, home-owners, job-seekers, homesick National Guardsmen, civil-libertarians, frequent-fliers, Muslims, hospital patients, anyone under the age of 40 and the Constitution) without going whole hog. It remains uncertain that if America did declare war against itself, would that need Congressional approval or could the President do it by Executive Order.

 

...

So far, Afghanistan remains unlike either Pakistan or America: it is not at war with itself, possibly because the roads are so congested with corrupt elites hauling money to the airport that there is no room to drive a tank. Also, having survived 30 years of invasion and civil war, they’d like to try out the alternative and chill out.

However, since Pakistan is fighting Pakistan and America, and America is fighting America and Pakistan, and they are chiefly doing it in Afghanistan – if they formalise it with a declaration of war, then the current entanglement of alliances suggest that President Karzai may have to do the noble thing, declare war on his own country and take himself into custody.

Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

Life on Life Discipleship

Rev. Charles Hooper is one of the pastors at the church I am a part of, Perimeter Church.  He writes a blog which I have come to enjoy and profit from. 

He writes more or less sporadically but when he does it is always substantive.  A habit I will try implementing thanks to his encouragement is a day of prayer once a month.  You can read about it here.

I recommend following his blog for encouragement and helpful spiritual reminders. 

GE paid nothing in taxes this year

And wrote a 57,000 page tax return.  From the Marginal Revolution:

Consider the resources that GE spends to lowers its tax bill, not just the many millions spent on clever accounting and accountants and the many millions spent on lobbying but also the many inefficient ways that GE structures its businesses just to avoid paying taxes and the many millions it invests in socially wasteful projects just in order to produce privately valuable tax credits. Now add to that the allocational inefficiencies of taxing some firms at different rates than others and you have a corporate tax system which wastes a lot of resources and raises relatively little revenue. Indeed, a corporate tax system with a tax rate of zero could well be preferable as it would waste fewer resources and raise not much less revenue.

An Advent Scripture Reading Guide

By Brian Zahnd. Check it out here:

Advent and the start of the Christian calendar begins on Sunday, November 27. I love the Christian calendar! It enables us to re-tell, re-live, and re-enter the Jesus Story — from the crowded stable to the empty tomb. We are a peculiar people and we have a peculiar calendar. We live in a secular world but we belong to a sacred story. And so we have two calendars — one secular, one sacred. What we want is to be formed by the Gospel Story. And the Gospel is a story! The Gospel is not a plan or theory or philosophy or ideology — it is a story!

ClimateGate 2.0?

A new batch of ~5k e-mails from top climate scientists has been leaked.

Three themes are emerging from the newly released emails: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political “cause” rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data.

 Without taking sides on the debate...these things should at least give us pause as to the "conventional wisdom".  Note that this is the science used by government around the world to justify much of their policy and regulation.  It affects every single person's standard of living.  Also, beware that "going green" doesn't necessarily prevent global warming then.  Maybe there are other good reasons to "go green" but don't think you're halting global warming by doing so.

Why Informal Theological Education?

Philemon Yong of Training Leaders International:

While [lay pastors] are rejected from entering the seminary (or otherwise unable to go), the seminary can be taken to them informally. In this scenario, the pastors go back to their churches, but we provide them with a biblically-grounded curriculum that will help them grow in their knowledge of Scripture, and in turn help the Christians grow through teaching. We go into an area where theological education is lacking, set up a training center in one close location where pastors can attend without having to leave their churches on the weekends. We send teachers for one week, three times a year for three or four years, five days a week for 4-8 hours a day. At the end of the three years, the pastors would have received between 60-120 hours of theological education. This is reasonable and when done well, will equip pastors to be equippers.

You see, theological education does not only have to take place in a traditional seminary setting. Informal training programs, like the one just described, will introduce the Bible to pastors and prepare them to be better preachers and teachers of the word for the good of the church.

Training Leaders International believes in this informal approach to theological education as a way of filling in the gaps, and as a way of helping meet the need to put trained pastors into local churches.

The parentheses are mine.

Eschatalogical Imagery

Imagine, if you will, a caterpillar and a butterfly, one crawling, the other perched, upon the same twig.Even had he a mind able to do so, the caterpillar would not recognize in his winged companion the same friend with whom he used to share a tasty leaf.The transformation wrought in the cocoon would have masked his friend's true identity.Nor would the caterpillar recognize in his companion his own destiny, even though it stood before his very eyes in all its Monarch splendor.But something in the way that butterfly moved, or something in the way it nibbled at its food in the bright sunlight would stir the caterpillar deeply, would make his heart burn within him.It would awaken the memory of twigs he'd travelled and leaves he'd tasted in the past, and of those with whom he'd shared summer days.The welcome and revered image of his old friend's homely, wormlike countenance would cross his mind, and for an instant, for one brief but electric moment, charged with expectation and softened by nostalgia, he would catch a glimpse of both past and future, and he would understand.
But moments of such transcending significance and insight are rare.

 That's Michael Bauman in his second part writing on eschatology.

My thoughts on cover letters

I've been a hiring manager before and that has given me some experience in terms of knowing what to include in a cover letter (and resume).  Knowing and helping a few people looking for work right now, I decided to throw up some advice here on cover letters.  

Their purpose is to introduce the reader to who you are, persuading them to look at your resume.  This is not the kind of letter you send to a long lost friend giving them an update on your life.  Your goal is simply to convince the hiring manager to take a look at your resume.  If you don't succeed at that with a cover letter, you've instantly lost. They throw both away and that opportunity is now gone.

Assume that the hiring manager is both very busy and has high standards.  You don't want to waste a busy person's time and you recognize that for such a person, if you can just get 1-5 minutes of their time you've got something.  Point is, don't write a tome.  Tell them how you heard about the job, what job it is you're interested in, and why, and then maybe a few key accomplishments are notable things about your past experience that uniquely qualifies you for it, tempting them to ask for more by looking at the resume.  This shouldn't take up much space at all. Think in terms of 2 - 3 small paragraphs.  Any more than that and they may not read it or they may not read all of it. Why take that gamble?

Also, and this can be the killer for most, use correct grammar, syntax, and spelling. Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager. They see a small error on the letter.  Why would they want to go farther and "give grace", especially when your competition didn't have mistakes in their letters?  And, you've just given them reason to think you're not going to be careful on the job if you can't even be careful with a short letter that we would think you put time into and really cared about since you're applying for a big change in your life.

At the end include a short note saying you will follow up at a designated time (say, next Thursday at 9:30 am).  When you do follow-up, you've done something most people don't do - keep their word.  It also shows you're really are interested in the position.   If you don't follow up as you say you're just like the rest of 'em and the firm may not even notice. They will notice though if you your word and tell them you're following up as you said you would.

Are they necessary? It depends.  I would say better to include one than not.  If you know the person well, you may not need one.

Happy Thanksgiving! // Goal Setting

Check out The Primal Challenge for my weekly post.  Excerpt below:

Setting goals as a range can be applied to anything - bedtime, pushups, sales/month, healthy eating, reading etc. This will keep you from walking away from a project ignorant of how well or poorly it was done.  So, the next time you're setting a goal ask yourself, "What does excellent look like?" and, "What does good look like?"  If you didn't hit excellent, maybe you still exceeded "good".  The undertone here is that striving for perfectionism is no good.  "But I will be producing good work!"  Maybe, not necessarily.  What you will be producing is a lot of inner frustration since perfect is never reached.  I hope this provides some good insight we go into the holiday season thinking about end of year budgets and new years resolutions.

Pakistan, one year ago.

One year ago I returned from one of the most impacting trips of my life.  I hope to return someday soon.

 This is an old Christian church in Peshawar.  There are many stories of it being miraculously protected from attack.

 Always good to break the ice with an audience by making a joke, right?  I made some joke about cricket (field behind me and translator), and was relieved it was not lost in translation...  Especially ironic is the building behind us while I spoke on Spiritual things.

A church service.  Here, Christians meet frequently to worship, not just for an hour or two a week.  No pews, fancy light fixtures, or speaker systems.  Living water is there though and they savor every bit of it.  

 The neighborhood where I stayed.  No sewers, running water, or even a well here.  And yet I hardly have known happier or more content people in my life.

Piper and Carson on TLI

You may know that I recently joined a missions organization, Training Leaders International.  It's been exciting work so far and I am looking forward to taking on the work assigned to me once I have the necessary funds raised. 

Pastor and author John Piper, as well as the scholar, D. A. Carson both serve on our advisory board and recently wrote these endorsements of the organization.  Please pray for us and the people we serve overseas.

I love the goal of international, Christ-exalting, theological famine relief. And I love the way God has raised up Training Leaders International to meet that need with real live, Spirit-filled, human teachers, on the ground, face-to-face with would-be pastors. So I thank God for Darren Carlson, and the amazing ministry God is gathering around his vision. May the word of the Lord run and be glorified!
-John Piper

The vision of Training Leaders International -- bringing together Christian pastors who have enjoyed the privileges of training with Christian pastors in cultures where there are few opportunities for training -- is proving fruitful and encouraging. It brings biblical and theological content to the people best positioned to pass it on to others. Most forms of short-term mission are fraught with troubling downsides, but this pattern of transferring serious theological nourishment is enriching both parties to the glory of God.
-D. A. Carson

Spending Quality Time with Quality People

Today is my second day home after a 53 day road trip.  It's good to be back, though I enjoyed the trip very much.  One of the series I'll be writing here will be on certain habits or resolutions I've adopted.  Someone I met with on the trip gave some really good advice that's worth repeating here:

"Always be reeling good people into your orbit."

It's easy to get into a rut, always talking to the same people, seeing the same friends, going to the same events, etc.   But how do you go to the next level?  Perhaps you want your thinking challenged, you're looking for some new ideas, you want to spread some ideas, you want to advance your business.  One of the best ways to go to the next level is to always be reeling good people into your orbit. 

What does good mean? You be the judge. But there ought to be something about them which deserves the admiration and respect of others, be it accomplishment(s), writing, innovation, their network, skill set, whatever.  Such people are probably more accessible than you think.  They may be happy to sit down over coffee with you and chat or partner with you on a small project etc.

Consistently doing this will have you always broadening your horizons, exposing you to different ideas or ways of thinking (than your own). You'll likely have opportunities to partner with new people on something and vice versa and over time you'll be building up a wide base of social capital.

I'd be interested in hearing your stories and feedback on how this has worked well for you.

Made Alive with Christ

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Ephesians 2:4-5

One of the blogs I follow, learn from, and recommend is "Made Alive with Christ" by my friend Jeannette Davenport.   Incidentally, she sends more visitors my way than any other site.  I've known the Davenport family for maybe five years now and though now separated by distance still enjoy hearing from them albeit on a public blog.


She often has book recommendations, good quotes from books she is reading, giving her a blog a warm, devotional feel.  Stop by and check it out. 

Home

For the last seven plus weeks I've been on the road, away from my place in Georgia.  Then again, even where I live there isn't my place.  Being away has given me some good perspective on things:

-It's remarkable how little I need to live.  A briefcase with some electronics (phone, computer, pad of paper, pens, ipad), suitcase with clothes, two backpacks with some clothes and miscellaneous. And get this, even that was a bit much.  A couple weeks into the trip I ended up throwing some clothes I just didn't need into a grocery bag in the bag seat.  Eventually, other stuff accumulated there....if that's how easy it is to accumulate things, golly, must be pretty easy to accumulate when I'm home.

-Instead of exhausting it was enriching and lively.  Starting out, I assumed it would be exhausting, or at least get there.  But here I am the night before I head for home not feeling tired at all. It would be easy to keep going.  A couple reasons why I think this is: 1) Every day I have been seeing friends or family and having great conversations with them.  I need to keep this in mind when I get back home.  2) I maintained a daily morning and evening routine throughout the trip keeping me "anchored", no matter what was happening each day (and each and every day was different!) or where I was etc. 

And, I alluded to this above...though away from home for a good long while and it will be good to be back, I am reminded that Atlanta, and this world really isn't my home. This life itself is a pilgrimage, and I am still on my way to a city that has foundations, namely, Heaven.

So some lessons to keep in mind now that I am home:

1. I should be extra careful when accumulating things - do I really need this or that?  As Jesus said, "one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

2. Spending quality time with others is invaluable, giving life depth and wonder. I should do this more at home.

3. Keep a routine going.  On the road or not, each of our days are different.  I need to keep a good routine in place to stay anchored through the highs and lows.  (more on that later)


4. Finally, I need to remember that while at home, and "in my own bed", I really am not at my true home and look forward to my final rest.


To all whom I saw - thank you for taking the time.  Your kindness, generosity, stories, smiles, and more will not be forgotten. You helped to make the trip a blessing and time of growth for me. 


Pax.

Peter Hitchens on the KJV (un)read in churches today

I usually find Hitchen's insights interesting, no matter the topic.  Today he wrote about the King James Version of the Bible and establishment hypocrisy.

After referring to more modern translations of the Bible as having a "plastic, diet cola taste" he says:

But even in this 400th anniversary year [of the KJV], it doesn’t occur to anybody much to give the King James an outing. At evensong in Lincoln cathedral, and again in Canterbury, in the past few weeks, I have encountered modern versions. Since Evensong is, for the most part, a service conducted in the English of the 16th century, it is actually rather incongruous to have a modern Bible read amid the sonorous rhythms of Cranmer’s prayers, Coverdale’s psalms and the ancient canticles. Why do they do it?

I think it is because, while Evensong brings in the tourists as a kind of religious concert (it is almost always stripped of the Confession or of any congregational prayers except the Creed), and is therefore more or less tolerated by the C of E establishment, the Authorised Version is too powerful a reminder of what Christianity used to be before the liberals got hold of it, and remains banned.  The only tribute to the Authorised Version that would be worth having, would be its restoration.

Don’t believe any of that stuff about it being hard to understand. Much of it is in words of one or two syllables, and memorable words at that. The difficult passages are just as difficult in the new versions.

Check out The Primal Challenge

Hello Readers (mostly anonymous people whom I have no idea of, unusual for someone used to public speaking),


The Primal Challenge has recruited me as a weekly blogger. I'll plan to have a post there every Thursday morning.  I will probably repost here but I recommend following that blog anyway as the folks there have good stuff to say. 

Here is a post from earlier this week by my friend Chuck Grimmett on Hard Rules vs. Soft Rules

Hard rules that you set and don’t deviate from solve the above two problems. Each time you are confronted with some small marginal decision, you don’t have to think about it. Your rule already made the decision for you. This allows you to easily stick to your resolutions without trying to weigh the possible costs and benefits (or, more realistically, rationalize little things). In short, hard rules keep you from developing habits that are potentially detrimental to your goals while simultaneously economizing on brain power.

Maybe you are a person who can use soft rules and stick with them. Soft rules might work for you and you might be happier because you use them. If you are one of those people, I applaud you. You are a much stronger person than I am. For everyone like me who might be struggling with taking a few too many cheats during meals and snacks or a few too many days off from your exercise routine, try trashing the soft rules and replacing them with hard rules. Resolve right now to solve your problem and stick with it. Examples: “I will not eat any grain products this month.” “I will exercise every Monday and Thursday morning.”

to emphasize the greatest possible amount of a quality

The older I get the more I realize what has been told to me is true: a life time is not enough to grasp what the Bible teaches.  I should be chomping on this passage alone a few years from now.


    His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
   
(2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV)

all |ôl|

used to refer to the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing: [ as predeterminer ] : all the people I met | she left all her money to him | [ as determiner ] : 10% of all cars sold | he slept all day | [ aspronoun ] : four bedrooms, all with balconies | carry all of the blame | the men are all bearded.

• [ determiner ] any whatever: assured beyond all doubt | he denied all knowledge.

• [ determiner ] used to emphasize the greatest possible amount of a quality: they were in all probability completely unaware | with all due respect.

Say Never Every Morning

    The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
        his mercies never come to an end;
    they are new every morning;
        great is your faithfulness.
    “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
        “therefore I will hope in him.”
(Lamentations 3:22-24)


Read that seven times and you'll start to glimpse the magnitude of the truth.  Breathtaking really.

you never know someone else's story pt. 1

One of the most enduring lessons I've ever been taught was in the Koch Associate Program a couple years ago from Tony Woodlief.  I won't use the same illustration he used….I can't even remember it that well, let alone tell the story as well as he.

I'll start with the moral of the story - You never (or at least, rarely) know where someone else is coming from.  This should affect how we think and act towards them.

A coworker may be unusually grouchy, day after day, month after month. Unbeknownst to you, they were going through a divorce.  Someone was snappy the other day. Unbeknownst to you, their car just sustained significant damage and that plus the repairs have been quite an inconvenience and hassle.  Someone's parents were just diagnosed with a degenerative disease.  Someone is unusually quiet and subdued. It is the anniversary of the sister being killed by a drunk driver.  Someone was treated rudely by others at school.  There are innumerable situations we could list. 

The lesson for me was that since you never know where someone is coming from don't make assumptions and then judge them because of that.  Sure, perhaps my buddy should not have been snappy with me. But it makes a lot more sense when I realize he was pushed to the limits that day by getting laid off , or in a car accident, etc. 

You may certainly get what you wish for, so what?

Last week I  declared that viewing one of Vivaldi's Glorias to be on my bucket list (this surprises none of my readers who know I am pretty obsessed with his music). 

Well wouldn't ya know.  Later the next day a friend of mine who I was about to visit and stay with in Pennsylvania mentioned that the Gloria was being performed that Saturday evening.  How bout that?! Perfect, I wish for something and there it is.  And not just anything...RV 589, Live!


I went and watched it and it was pretty good. Save for a few mess-ups, impressive actually. Then it was done, over, the rest of my life to live.


So the lesson I learned was this:  God will grant you your wishes, sometimes with extraordinary speed.  However, are you desiring what truly matters?  Are your wishes self-centered or God-centered?  Are they others oriented or me-oriented? 


In the grand scheme of things, seeing Vivaldi's Gloria really doesn't matter.  What does matter is my character, my attitudes towards God and others, my habits, the great (or not so great) things I aspire to and work towards. 


If God will give us what we ask for then we better be asking for the best things, and we know by studying His Word what those things are. 

An antidote to worry

  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
    Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—

practice these things,

and the God of peace will be with you.

(Philippians 4:6-7)


Pray, think, do.

Manifesting the glory of his sufficiency...

I recently had a friend share with me that he noticed all his weaknesses end up getting him to a better place.  Simply to realize accept that is profound.  Essentially, our weaknesses don't get us to a better place but it is because of God's power in our weakness when we rely on him.  Then this morning, I was bombarded with thoughts of my shortcomings, failings, and weaknesses.  "God, it would be better if I could just start fresh or over", I thought.  Not true.  I am the way I am for a reason and for a divine purpose.

For those with such thoughts, or who have been through trial and suffering, Jonathan Edwards has some good thoughts in Miscellany 907:

God's manner is, in almost everything, to suffer 'em first to be undone, and then to build 'em up again in a more glorious, in vastly greater, perfection than before they was undone. When he has anything very glorious to accomplish, he accomplishes it and builds it up out of ruins of something that was excellent but is destroyed, hereby manifesting the glory of his sufficiency, power and wisdom, and infinite superiority to all things....

More below the fold.

Who is Jesus?

This past weekend I stayed with a wonderful family I've known for a few years in Lancaster, PA.   Incidentally, being with them three summers ago was "milemarker" in my spiritual life as they gave me a book that significantly affected the way I viewed the gospel and myself.  It was a blessing to attend church with them again at Crossway Church and see all the growth and progress there over the last couple years.

The senior pastor is currently leading the congregation through the book of Revelation.  Last Sunday he looked at the letter to the church in Philadelphia, Rev 3:7-13.  It begins: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens."

In each of the letters to the seven churches Jesus begins by introducing himself.  It has been good this week to contemplate the description of Jesus here.

The holy one - often used in the Old Testament to describe God. Means set apart from the ordinary.  In Jesus, there is no sin or fault.  


The true one - He is totally truthful, and can be wholly trusted. Every single person on this earth can and will fail us in word or deed, small or great.  Even those closest to us will break trust. That will never happen with Jesus. Everything he has promised he will do and everything he does is good.  

Key to David - The keys of royalty represented power and authority.  For Jesus to have the keys to David means only he has authority over the Kingdom of Heaven, to admit or to exclude.  And his decisions cannot be reversed.  

What is Gratitude?

John Piper in Future Grace:

Like most precious things, gratitude is vulnerable.  We easily forget that gratitude exists because sometimes things come to us "gratis"- without price or payment.  When that happens, we should feel a pleasant sense of the worth of what we've received and the goodwill behind it.  This pleasant sense is what we call gratitude.  Then, spontaneously rising from this pleasant sense, come expressions of delight.  We feel constrained with joy to acknowledge the gift and the goodwill behind it, and to express how good we feel about the gift and the heart of the giver.

Gratitude corresponds to grace ("gratis"). This is true even when we feel thankful for something we have paid for.  We sense that what we bought might have been disappointing in spite of our having enough money to buy it.  It might not have been in such good condition; or it might not have been the exact one we wanted; or someone might have bought it before we did; or the transaction might have been harsh; or the timing might have been wrong for our intended use; or the price might have gone up just after we bought it.  In other words, gratitude is not the feeling that we have been shrewd in the way we get things.  It is the emotion that rises joyfully in response to something "gratis," even in our purchases.

May Your Power Rest on Me

Hitchens on civilization and divorce

On grave robbers and disrespect for Britain's fallen soldiers:

Some actions ought to be unthinkable. Even the lowest, dimmest lout ought to know that you do not defile monuments to the dead. Till a few years ago, the worst crook in Britain would have stopped himself from ripping a bronze plaque off a war memorial.
Those who claim that this country is not falling to pieces need to explain why such crimes are now becoming common.

Something has disappeared from the hearts of the people who do this. They are different from any generation that lived before.

...

These metal thieves are no better than grave-robbers, and we have bred and raised them among us. These sombre and thoughtful shrines are not glorifications of war, but memorials to beloved people who went to their deaths in the belief that they were saving civilisation.
It seems that they failed.

 And, on the effects of easy divorce:

Easy divorce equals lost children - it's a simple equation

...

Could this mass condemnation of so many children to broken homes and/or the absence of fathers have anything to do with this week’s Barnardo’s survey, showing that nearly half of us think the young are becoming feral? I think it could.

We've yet to see the long term societal and cultural effects of divorce in America as it's prevalence is relatively recent in our own land and in world history in general.  

Cultivating a habit of thankfulness

Thanksgiving is around the corner so I better get the list of things I'm thankful for ready:
Family
Friends
My church
A wonderful job
Food
Classical music cd's.

There. Done.  Now, if I can only remember that list it will be easier to list off at Thanksgiving 2012.

The story of my life - I thank God and others for plain, general things.  No specifics, nothing unique. How thankful am I really for these things and more?  Why am I thankful for my friends, for music, and perhaps hundreds of things that went unlisted? 

I recently wrote about a system I use to develop and get rid of habits - basically a routine to make sure I do the important things get done.  That was written at a very high level and my journaling system is much more complicated than that post indicates (which is fine).  A twitter follower of mine (@ereinei) commented that it's like a quick form of The Daily Examen.  I hadn't heard of this before...I agree. And it's worth looking at and learning from. Thanks for that tip.

Then tonight I had a wonderfully rich conversation with an old friend who told me about a book she read on cultivating gratitude - 1000 Gifts You should probably read the book.  Second person that brought this up to me...ok, I might as well right about it.  So how can we get away from listing general sentiments of thankfulness that we may or may not actually be thankful for?  And maybe if I really am only thankful for 6 things I should work on that and see if before long I can be thankful for hundreds or thousand of things.

One of the things I do as a part of my daily journaling and tracking is making note of everything I do every day, usually throughout the day, but always at the end of the day.  Before you pass me off as an organized nut (which is true) hear me out...  Before the day starts I have the list ordered by priority, bold things as they are accomplished, then fill it in as other things (usually more minor, not important enough to make a "top five" priority list) get done or come up.   There are lots of benefits to this and I'll only emphasize here what Pete Drucker didn't: Tracking what happens in the day (even if in bullet point form...no reason to write five paragraphs of prose every evening on your day, friends) shows the multitude of things to be thankful for that normally slip our minds.  Now it's no longer, "I'm thankful for my family"  But, "I'm thankful for my brother, whom I had lunch with today, and for him being a wonderful influence on my life and leader to others, and his personality which delights." 

For example - here is my tracking from today:

1.
2. blog on gratitude habit
3. Review final two chapters of Paul Washer book
Follow up notes from yesterday
7 am church
Coffee with I
Lunch with N and E
Laundry
Nap
Dinner with J
Dessert with R

When time permits, I usually insert prose where appropriate or important (memory fails and I am dead serious about wanting to remember all four meetings I had on the 3rd of Nov. years from now.). 

Without hardly a thought, I now have a list of ten specific things all condensed into a single day I can be thankful for - to God, and to others.  Really? A nap? Yes, I was exhausted and not feeling well. God gave me rest when I needed it and I was refreshed to go another 6 hours.  I am very thankful for the nap itself and the space in my schedule that allowed it.  Big day? need to get to bed right away? the material is written down to follow up later with specific people and thank them.  Note: someone doesn't have to give you something for you to be thank them (Phil. 1:3-5).  It's written down to now thank God, and remember the many things in our lives that are not of our own but are gifts from above. 

Start doing this one day a week, say, Sundays.  It'll hardly take conscious thought to throw more days into the mix as you get going.  Anxious to see what gifts and graces are awaiting you, days will start to begin in anticipation and end in gratitude.  As I've recommended before, use whatever method works for you - a moleskine, evernote, word document, journal book, bullet points, pen, keyboard, prose, whatever. 


Thank you Win, Jenny, and Sebastian for spurring the ideas above and helping me grow and mature.  I'd like to hear reader thoughts on how you cultivate gratitude...Please feel free to post a comment below.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

Author: Kate Wilkinson

Philippians 2:4-14

Pick up and keep going

Sometimes we all feel swamped and like a failure. Samuel Becket has some wise words for that -

ever tried
ever failed
no matter
try again
fail again
fail better

(h/t Wes Freeman)

Confused by economics? Check out this 2 minute clip!

Economics can be complicated...and the talking heads on tv or in the news hardly even agree.

Check out this cool clip that simplifies it all pretty well!

Beauty in the eye of the beholder is a lie

    The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
(1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

shai linne - "The Perfection of Beauty" ft. Blair Linne (Official Trailer) from shot by esso™ on Vimeo.

Have you contemplated the Beautiful One, the Most High today?

Take a Walk!

Thought there was a post about this already, but since there isn't...

I recommend a daily walk.  Doesn't need to be miles, doesn't need to be measured, doesn't have to be fast for exercise...just a walk.  At a comfortable pace, in comfortable clothing, with no earphones in (or with, depending on environment), try going for a short walk if you can in the middle or end of your day.


You'll likely find as I do that this relaxes your mind, gets your focus on other things like the mundane things happening in the area - birds chirping, other people walking.  Away from a computer screen, and desk, you won't be barraged by an onslaught of work saying "Get me done!"  For a few minutes you will have some calm to think on whatever you'd like...a current issue at work, what you'd like to do with the family later in the day, or nothing much at all.

I've found that going for a walk is an especially good antidote when the to-do list is endless, stress is high, and I wonder if I'll ever get things done. Ironically, leaving the to-do list and desk to just take a breather does far more than keeping the pedal to the metal.