Religion Versus The Gospel

The primary difference is that of motivation. In religion, we try to obey the divine standards out of fear. We believe that if we don't obey we are going to lose God's blessing in this world and the next. In the gospel, the motivation is one of gratitude for the blessing we have already received because of Christ. While the moralist is forced into obedience, motivated by fear of rejection, a Christian rushes into obedience, motivated by a desire to please and resemble the one who gave his life for us.

...

The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued and that Jesus was glad to die for me.

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller, pp 186-187

Music is the Moon

This quote in a wonderful book I have been reading has stuck with me for days.

Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite artists. His music, his writing and his creative talent are gifts from God that I am so thankful that he shares with the world.

Lessons From Pre-School Photos

The following photos of Lainey at pre-school today reminded me of things that make life great:

A fun, comfy spot to rest

A good book to read

A friend to sit next to and read with

A friend to learn with and play with

Friends to sing and dance with

Don't be fooled.
These are very important for all of us to remember, especially for myself.

Ethanol and The Dust Bowl

Lisa and I recently watched the Ken Burns' documentary "The Dust Bowl". It was very interesting, very informative and very moving. The stories featured told of the causes of that environmental catastrophe, the impact of the event on the people in the area and the fragility of the land. It featured a lot from Timothy Eagan's wonderfully written book on the subject "The Worst Hard Time" - I highly recommend reading it.


Today I read this article "The Secret, Dirty Cost of Obama's Green Power Push" which details how the EPA, Department of Agriculture and the White House have pursued pushing ethanol as a sustainable biofuel, when the evidence is more and more to the contrary.

There are several things stated in the article that brought to mind the Dust Bowl, but this one really stood out to me:

Investors from as far away as Maryland and Pennsylvania have bought thousands of acres in Wayne County, sending prices skyrocketing from $350 per acre a decade ago to $5,000 today.

One in every four acres of in the county is now owned by an out-of-towner.
Those who still own land often rent it to farming companies offering $300 or more per acre. Perkins could make perhaps $27,000 a year if he let somebody plant corn on his land. That's nothing to dismiss in a county where typical household income is $36,000.
But he knows what that means. He sees the black streaks in his neighbor's cornfields, knowing the topsoil washes away with every rain. He doesn't want that for his family's land.

This is similar to what happened in the 1920s when the cost of grain skyrocketed and the government expanded homestead settlement programs. Investors from the big city or even out of state would purchase acreage or pay to farm someone's previously untouched existing acreage. The land hadn't previously been planted with crops because it was unsuitable for that type of farming. The huge increase in demand and price led to a boom of converting prairie land to farm land. Yet the fact remained, the newly converted land was historically known as not being suitable for crops. When the unusually wet years turned back to the normal dry years, the ground dried out and the soil began to erode and blow. When the drought of the 30s hit the former prairie lands, there was nothing to hold the soil down and it literally took off with the wind.

It would behoove us to learn from past mistakes and not farm land that is not meant to be farmed. It would be wise for our government to eliminate subsidies for programs that produce little benefit, encourage a misuse of the land and place us in a position that could lead to another environmental disaster.

In short, it would be beneficial for us as a country to learn from our own not-too-distant history.

Sanctification Through Planned Neglect

"The more you study the Word of God, the more it saturates your mind and life. Someone is reported to have asked a concert violinist in New York's Carnegie Hall how she became so skilled. She said it was by "planned neglect". She planned to neglect everything that was not  related to her goal.

Some less important things in your life could stand some planned neglect so that you might give yourself to studying the Word of God."  - John MacArthur, Found: God's Will

The Importance of Knowing Where We Are

As I read this quote, I wondered if most Americans truly know where we are as a nation, where they are as individuals and the impact they can have in the culture and economy at large.

"As for blame, who can be blamed for inheriting a culture that existed before they were born?  But, while nothing can be done about the past, much can be done in the present to prepare for the future. Whatever we wish to achieve in the future, it must begin by knowing where we are in the present- not where we wish we were, or where we wish others to think we are, but where we are in fact." - Thomas Sowell in Economic Facts and Fallacies, p186

Reading Rainbow Theme Song à la Jim Morrison

Okay, so it is Jimmie Fallon impersonating the singer, but it is still fascinating.


(HT: 22 Words)

Nearing Home - Book Review

Billy Graham is known the world over for his decades of preaching the Word of God to millions of people during thousands of sermons delivered at small revival tents, large churches and arenas and stadiums filled to capacity. He has offered advice and counsel to Presidents and has become an icon of modern Christianity. In his book "Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well, Mr. Graham takes a look back at the life he has lived and offers advice and encouragement to readers young and old.

Being in my mid-thirties, I am certain that I do not fit the target demographic for this book. I do not doubt that many of my peers would not pick up this book to read it, when there are so many other books on the shelf that are being written by the current group of up-and-coming, popular, mostly young pastors and theologians. While this is understandable, and there is a lot of great content being generated by that group, it is unfortunate that the words of a man who has lived a life dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be overlooked.

In this book, we get to hear the heart of a man who is fondly recalling not only events in his life but one who is also pleading for others to learn from his own mistakes. We get to hear the humility of a man who fully understands that he is far from perfect, but knows that he is loved by God. We get a glimpse into the frailty that comes with age and the heartache that is generated by the loss of so many loved ones. We get to see a man who is calling us all to live in the here and now, fighting our sinful nature and sharing hope with the world, all the while anticipating the joy that will come when we are called home to Heaven.

I would encourage anyone at any age to read this book. While it is geared more toward the older generation, there are many wonderful sections that are directly applicable to people of all ages. For those of you who, like myself, do not have a grandfather to listen to share the Biblical wisdom they have gained through their life experience, I would wholeheartedly recommend taking a couple of hours to read through what Mr. Graham has penned.

A Brief Excerpt:

"Christians are not to be preoccupied with death; God has put within each of us a will to survive. But neither are we to shrink from death or act as if we must fiercely resist it until the breath. The time may well come, in fact, when life's burdens and pains overwhelm us so much that we will welcome death as a friend - and that is as it should be. If we know Christ, we know that Heaven is our true home, and (like the saints of old) we are "longer for a better country - a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:16). Remember that one day everyone will be facing old age. I can recall as a young adult worrying about my parents as they aged. I always try tried to give them the respect they earned and deserved, and I was cautious not to insult them by suggesting that they could no longer make important decisions about their lives. A fine line sometimes separates preserving your parents' dignity and ensuring their well-being." -- from pages 66-67

Is it Miserable Outside? Perspective Matters

I read the following Wednesday evening, prior to our thermometer going triple digits.
Things have been much worse around St. Louis.

"In June, the weather in St. Louis often turns into a blast furnace that lasts until mid September. That year (1934), on schedule, the grass in Sportsman's Park faded to a well-baked brown. Adding to the misery ushered in by the miles-long dust cloud in mid May, the Midwest was now caught in the grip of a heat wave that would last all summer and kill more than a thousand people. A two-year drought caused the Mississippi River to continue to drop and thus led to Missouri's worst farm crisis ever. St. Louis was also registering the highest temperatures since 1871. For thirty consecutive days, the thermometer reached 100 degrees or more."
- from "The Gashouse Gang " by John Heidenry, pp138-139

God's Praise is Unstoppable

"Sometime praise is impossible to contain. It is a violently full river for which there is no dam high enough or wide enough to contain it. He will be on the tip of our tongue. He will spill out."
- David Crowder (Praise Habit, p53)

Inconsistency of All Human Characters

Lisa and I finished watching the 6 episode BBC created adaptation of Pride and Prejudice last night. The following quote is one that I find memorable:

"There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense."
— Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

How to Avoid a Broken Heart

"To love all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries... lock it safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenerable, irredeemable... The only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is hell!"

- C.S. Lewis in "The Four Loves"

2010 Book List

At the beginning of 2010 I challenged myself to read more throughout the year. Over the course of the past year, I read 20 books, a result that I am very pleased with. After crunching the numbers, I discovered that I read 7,251 pages, which is an average of 139 pages per week, or 19.87 pages per day.

Books I Read in 2010:
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War – Bill Sloan
From Peanuts to the Pressbox: Insider Sports Stories from a Life Behind the Mic – Eli Gold (My Review)
The Jesus You Can't Ignore: What You Must Learn from the Bold Confrontations of Christ – John MacArthur
The World Without Us – Alan Weisman
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America – Timothy Egan
Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions – Mark Driscoll
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One - Thomas Sowell
66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God That Invites You into His Story - Dr. Larry Crabb (My Review)
Firewall - Henning Mankell
The Road to Serfdom - F.A. Hayek
Fading Echoes - Mike Sielski
The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion - Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck
ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery - Agatha Christie
Holy Vocabulary - Michael Kelley (My Review)
Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum - Edward O'Donnell
BoneMan's Daughters - Ted Dekker
Riven - Jerry B. Jenkins
Race To The Pole - Sir Ranulph Fiennes
* I finished this book this year. I read over 3/4 of it in 2010 (well over 800 pages of it), so I am counting it.

My Stay Through Life

After successfully reaching the South Pole (the second group to have ever accomplished this feat and the first to do so without the aid of dog's or horses), Captain Robert Scott's team ran into terrible weather on their trip back to their home base. After several members became incapable of continuing on due to health reasons, it became apparent that the group's chances of survival was quickly fading due to the lack of food and fuel, which lay 11 miles away on the frozen plains of Antarctica. The following quote was written on March 22, 1912 by Lieutenant Henry R. Bowers in a letter to his mother. The letter was found in the tent next to his body, where he had died a few days after writing it.

"I am still strong and hope to reach this one (the depot) with Dr. Wilson and get the food and fuel necessary for our lives. God only knows what will be the outcome of the 22 miles march...but my trust is still in Him and in the abounding Grace of my Lord and Savior whom you brought me up to trust in and who has been my stay through life... There will be no shame however and you will know that I have struggled until the end."
- as quoted on page 332 in Race to the Pole by Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Much to Hope From the Flowers

Today I was reminded of this portion of the story of "The Naval Treaty" in which the following dialogue of Sherlock Holmes is captured:

"…What a lovely thing a rose is!"

"He walked past the couch to the open window and held up the drooping stalk of
a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a
new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen
interest in natural objects."

" 'There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,' said
he, leaning with his back against the shutters. 'It can be built up as an exact
science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence
seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires,
our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But
this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life,
not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say
again that we have much to hope from the flowers.' " 

pp 455-456 The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Cross Takes Us Beyond Forgiveness

I think sometimes we look at the cross and think of it exclusively in terms of forgiveness. We should do that, because that's where our forgiveness for sin has it's basis. Without the cross, we would still be cursed for our sinful nature and sinful acts that come from it. But the cross takes us beyond forgiveness. We aren't just forgiven. We're righteous, free from the sinful nature that once bound us and the guilt that accompanied it. Because of Jesus' work on the cross, when God looks at us He sees the righteousness of Christ. The cross is the place where sin is exchanged for righteousness.

- pp 65-66 "Holy Vocabulary" by Michael Kelley

A Crutch For the Weak?

Christianity isn't a crutch for the weak; it's a stretcher for the dead. We are so spiritually dead that we aren't even aware that we need to be saved. We need God to step into that deadness to make us aware of the peril.

- p. 49 Holy Vocabulary" by Michael Kelley

Repentance is Valuing Jesus Above All Else

But we can only walk away from something for so long. Eventually, just walking away wears us out. We get tired. We get bitter. We get angry. A moment must come when we aren't just walking away from something. At some point, we have to catch a vision, a breath, a taste of something that turns our attention and focus in a new direction. Only then can we truly leave things in the past and get excited about the future.

In order for repentance to hold, for it to "stick", we must be convinced that we're choosing something better than what we're leaving behind. Our motivation has to be turning toward something rather than just walking away from something else.

And this wraps it up:

Repentance is about choosing life with Christ over life with anything else. So repentance isn't about stopping what we're doing; it's about valuing Jesus more than what we're doing. That's why we turn; not just because our old ways are self-destructive, wrong, or immoral, but because of how much we value Christ. And how much we believe He's better than anything else.

- pp 45-46 "Holy Vocabulary" by Michael Kelley

It's About a Change in Being

That's why the Gospel is so much more than an attempt to change our behavior. The Gospel is about a change in being. In condition. In who we are. Because sin runs so deeply into the very core of who we are, the solution for sin can be nothing less than an absolute change of that same core.

- p. 38 "Holy Vocabulary" by Michael Kelley

We are Reminded of Our Identity by the Spirit

So the Holy Spirit reminds us, again and again. He reminds us in the midst of our pain and when we try to be self-reliant.  He reminds us when we are in the throws of temptation. Time and time again comes the echo of the Spirit in our hearts: We are children of God.

- p. 32 "Holy Vocabulary" by Michael Kelley