Grumble, Grumble, Grumble
This weekend was a good mix of fun, work and some great preaching (Check out the Crosspoint sermon from 8/16 if interested). The sermon was on Exodus, shortly after the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea and were beginning to grumble about not having food nor water in the desert. It was a convicting sermon which just shows me how much better I have it in today’s life with food a couple steps away and over 50 magical things called faucets which will provide water immediately. And yet, I find that I grumble a lot to God when things are going so hot. I find that the word is so appropriate with my overall attitude when life isn’t going my way. If we take a closer look at the grumbling, we can uncover a whole host of nasty dark attitudes which God...
Fearing the End
Three years ago I was convinced that the world was coming to an end. Earlier that year I read that, according to The Bible Code, the world would end in a nuclear war in 2006. At first I laughed it off; after all, every time some book predicts the end of the world it never happens. But anxiety has this weird way of making the most far-out idea seem reasonable. It didn’t help that Iran started enriching uranium, and North Korea was getting ready to test a nuclear weapon either. So I spent the entire summer paralyzed by fear. I would get so scared that I’d throw up. Nothing could calm me down or make me happy. Why bother? We were all going to die anyway. What’s so great about life when we can’t control what’s going to happen? Finally I...
The Middle of Nowhere
Most of the time, when election season rolls around there is a palpable increase in the level of tension in any conversation that moves beyond the latest sporting event. These days it seems that election season has stretched itself out to enfold not only the year of the big vote, but all years in between. As such we are all faced with dealing with a near-constant level of rancor in what would otherwise be fairly placid conversations. It seems that “my team is always right and your team is always wrong” has become the mantra of every other soul around. Ironically, each ideological camp accuses the other of being the most egregious practitioners of this universally hated art. Many Christians, upon seeing the degradations born of extreme partisanship, have come...
Marriage Trust
It’s my 7th anniversary and it seems that on each anniversary my wife and I tend to analyze and try to figure out why it works as well as it does. Of course my dashing good looks is the cement that holds our relationship together (second only to our vows to God). This year we discussed trust. How we both know that neither of us is ever going to leave the other for any reason. This makes a huge openness in our relationship allowing for honesty even to the point of pain. No hiding things that could start building our relationship on lies. But I think we are very fortunate. This trust certainty isn’t in every marriage, even some Christian marriages lack this. I can’t imagine the fear and uncertainty I would have if this trust wasn’t there....
Driscoll Quote – Good stuff to think on
“If you stick with the Gospel, you will always feel homeless. The ‘religious’ and ‘liberal’ people will both hate you.” Man this was a good point. Not only to do a check on my expectations of this life, but to allow the homeless feeling to point us to our real Home which is in Heaven with Christ.