An Honest Fighter

The path of an honest fighter is a difficult one. And when the fighter grows cool in the evening of his life this is still no excuse to retire into games and amusement. Whoever remains faithful to his decision will realise that his whole life is a struggle. Such a person does not fall into the temptation of proudly telling others of what he has done with his life. Nor will he talk about the “great decisions” he has made. He knows full well that at decisive moments you have to renew your resolve again and again and that this alone makes good the decision and the decision good

- Søren Kierkegaard -

Father Responds to His Son's Rant about the Church

At one point in his journey towards Christ, Nathan Foster (the son of author Richard Foster) was living "a ragged attempt at discipleship." He was afraid to share his honest thoughts about God and his disillusionment with the church, especially with a father who had given his life to serve God and the church.

But one day as Nathan shared a ride with his dad on a ski lift, he blurted out, "I hate going to church. It's nothing against God; I just don't see the point." Richard Foster quietly said, "Sadly, many churches today are simply organised ways of keeping people from God."

Surprised by his dad's response, Nathan launched into "a well-rehearsed, cynical rant" about the church:

Okay, so since Jesus paid such great attention to the poor and disenfranchised, why isn't the church the world's epicenter for racial, social and economic justice? I've found more grace and love in worn-out folks at the local bar than those in the pew … . And instead of allowing our pastors to be real human beings with real problems, we prefer some sort of overworked rock stars.

His dad smiled and said, "Good questions, Nate. Overworked rock stars: that's funny. You've obviously put some thought into this." Once again, Nathan was surprised that his "rant" didn't faze his dad. "He didn't blow me off or put me down." From that point on Nathan actually looked forward to conversations with his dad.

It also proved to be a turning point in his spiritual life. By the end of the winter, Nathan was willing to admit,

Somewhere amid the wind and snow of the Continental Divide, I decided that if I'm not willing to be an agent of change [in the church], my critique is a waste … . Regardless of how it is defined, I was learning that the church was simply a collection of broken people recklessly loved by God … . Jesus said he came for the sick, not the healthy, and certainly our churches reflect that.

Spurred on by his father's acceptance and honesty and by his own spiritual growth, Nathan has continued to ask honest questions, but he has also started to love and change the church, rather than just criticise it.

Nathan Foster, Wisdom Chaser (IVP Books, 2010), pp. 85-89

Two Homes Tested by Powerful Wind Gusts

On October 19, 2010, a test was conducted at the Institute for Business and Home Safety in Richburg, South Carolina. Researchers constructed two 1,300-square-foot houses inside a $40 million laboratory and then observed how a simulated hurricane would impact the homes.
The first home was built according to conventional standards. The second home included reinforcement straps that connected every level of the building, from the foundation all the way to the roof. Then the researchers turned on giant fans, creating gusts of wind up to 110 miles per hour (equal to a category 3 hurricane). In the first two experiments, which lasted under ten minutes, both homes survived the intense winds. But when they tried a third experiment, turning on the fans for more than ten minutes, the conventional home began to shake and then collapsed. In contrast, the home with the floors and roof reinforced to the foundation sustained only cosmetic damage.
Tim Reingold, an engineer working on the experiment, summarised the results with a pointed question: "The bottom line you have to ask yourself is, which house would you rather be living in?"

BBC NEWS, "US researchers create hurricane to test houses," (19 October 2010)

More than a Machine

The human being is more than a mere biological machine. Every person is intended, ennobled and valued by God – and that includes the sick and disabled. When we take seriously what Jesus said and did, we recognize that a person can be whole and well in the best sense of these terms even if disabled – say, without a leg or an arm, blind or deaf, or suffering from paraplegia or mental retardation. Such a person can be inwardly sound as a bell, with a warm and joyful heart that doesn’t constantly grumble and rail against life

- Markus Baum -

Despair

Even the most sincere, the most deeply founded in faith, go through hours of despair. At such times it is important to continue praying. Perhaps it will sound as if we are talking into an echo chamber. Or perhaps we will feel that our efforts are so insignificant, so weak, that our voice can never reach heaven. But prayer never depends on our feeling close to God; he is always close to us, and he does hear us

Johann Christoph Arnold

Sermon on the Mount

Humanly speaking, we could understand and interpret the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand different ways. Jesus knows only one possibility: simple surrender and obedience, not interpreting it or applying it, but doing and obeying it. That is the only way to hear his word. But again he does not mean that it is to be discussed as an ideal; he really means us to get on with it

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A New Challenge

If the world has not approached its end, it has reached a major watershed in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will demand from us a spiritual blaze, we shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern Era...No one on earth has any other way left but upwards.
Everything will depend on whether or not the last hour finds us a generation worthy of greatness.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Commencement address at Harvard University, June 1978

Children

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
And He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also The bow that is stable.

Kahlil Gibran

Mastering the Future

Some day,
after mastering
the winds, the waves,
the tides and gravity,
we shall harness for God
the energies of love.
And then,
for the second time
in the history of the world,
man will discover fire.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

President Bush Forgives a Staffer Caught in Plagiarism

In 2001 Tim Goeglein started running the White House Office of Public Liaison, providing him almost daily access to then President George Bush. All of that ended abruptly on February 29, 2008. A well-known blogger uncovered the startling facts behind some of Goeglein's published articles: 27 out of 39 of his written pieces had been plagiarized. When the facts came out, by mid-afternoon the next day, Goeglein's career in the White House was over.
"But I was guilty as charged," Goeglein admitted.
For Goeglein, this began "a personal crisis unequaled in my life, bringing great humiliation on my wife and children, my family, and my closest friends, including the President of the United States."
Although Goeglein was devastated, what happened next was an example of God's providence and mercy. Goeglein was summoned to the White House to face the President. Once inside the Oval Office, Goeglein shut the door, turned to the President and said, "I owe you an … "
President Bush simply said: "Tim, you are forgiven."
Tim was speechless. He tried again: "But sir … "
The President interrupted him again, with a firm "Stop." Then President Bush added, "I have known grace and mercy in my life, and you are forgiven."
After a long talk, a healing process was launched for Goeglein, which included repentance, reflection, and spiritual growth. "Political power can lead to pride," Goeglein concluded. "That was my sin. One hundred percent pride. But offering and receiving forgiveness is a different kind of strength. That's the kind of strength I want to develop now."

Warren Cole Smith, “Wins & Losses,” World (23 October 2010), p. 11

A Barren Heart

The only remedy for a barren heart is prayer, however poor and inadequate…if I can’t write anything else just now, it’s only because there’s a terrible absurdity about a drowning man who, instead of calling for help, launches into a scientific, philosophical, or theological dissertation while the sinister tentacles of the creatures on the seabed are encircling his arms and legs, and the waves are breaking over him. It’s only because I’m filled with fear, that and nothing else, and feel an undivided yearning for him who can relieve me of it.
I’m still so remote from God that I don’t even sense his presence when I pray. Sometimes when I utter God’s name, in fact, I feel like sinking into a void. It isn't a frightening or dizzying sensation, it’s nothing at all – and that’s far more terrible. But prayer is the only remedy for it, and however many devils scurry around inside me, I shall cling to the rope God has thrown me, even if my numb hands can no longer feel it. However poor and inadequate prayer may be, it is the only real help for despair.

Sophie Scholl

Break Free

Brothers and sisters, break free from whatever ruts you have settled into! Whoever does not want to be set free – well, suit yourself, but don't say you are living in Christ's spirit. You can continue in the old ways and be a part of Christianity, but not of God's kingdom. You can live in Christianity but not in Christ; the gulf between the two is great. You can settle down and feather your nest and think, Now I've got it made – but you'll never win eternity. That's something altogether different. The “city” we have now does not interest us; it cannot last. Instead, we seek the future City, the one God sets before our eyes, and of which Christ is ruler.

Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt

Transformation

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing: the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words compelle intrare, compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.

C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

The Persecuted Church

I am glad, brothers and sisters, that our church is persecuted precisely for its preferential option for the poor and for trying to become incarnate in the interest of the poor and for saying to all the people, to rulers, to the rich and powerful: unless you become poor, unless you have a concern for the poverty of our people as though they were your own family, you will not be able to save society.

Oscar Romero

Running

You can out-distance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you

- Rwandan proverb -

Walking through a Graveyard

There's nothing like an open grave to offer a glimpse of life by John Ortberg Eugene Peterson tells a wonderful story in his memoir, The Pastor. (By the way, it's a fabulous read. If you are a pastor, or were a pastor, or might be a pastor, or know a pastor, or can pronounce pastor, you should get it.) Eugene (I call him "Genie") and his wife were visiting a Benedictine monastery named Christ in the Desert. On their way to the refectory where they were to have lunch, they walked past the graveyard and noticed an open grave. Eugene asked which member of the community had died recently.
"No one," he was told. "That grave is for the next one."
Each day, three times a day, as they walk from praying to eating, the members of that community are reminded of what we spend our waking hours trying to forget.
One of them will be the next one.
The contemplation of death used to be a regular feature of spiritual life. Now we live in what Ernst Becker called "The Denial of Death." Woody Allen wrote that he didn't mind the thought of dying; he just didn't want to be there when it happened.
Frances de Sales wrote long instructions designed to help believers reflect on their deaths as vividly as possible. Human beings are the only creatures whose frontal lobes are so developed that they know that the game will end. This is our glory, our curse, our warning, and our opportunity.
In Jerusalem, hundreds of synagogues have been built by Jews from around the world. One was built by a group from Budapest, and according to an ancient custom, they had a coffin built into the wall. There is no body in it, they would explain to visitors. It is present as a silent witness to remind us: Somebody will be the next one.
The Talmud teaches that every person should fully repent one day before his death. When a visitor asked, "But how will I know when that day is?" he was told: "You won't. So treat every day as if it were the day before your last."
I thought of that this summer. One of the most formative people in my life was a red-headed professor of Greek at Wheaton College named Jerry Hawthorne. He is something of a legend in Wheaton circles. He was the kind of teacher who made everyone want to be a better student. He was such a diligent person that if you did not do your best, you felt shabby and ill-hearted by comparison. He took everyone's failure personally; as if your failure as a student were really his failure as a teacher.
One of the students in our class was showing up sporadically. A friend and I snuck up to Dr. Hawthorne's office, stole some stationery, and wrote a note "from Dr. Hawthorne" apologizing for being too poor a teacher and promising to teach better if only this student would give class another, better try.
The student rushed up to Dr. Hawthorne's office; we stood outside the door as he apologized profusely saying it was all his fault, not Dr Hawthorne's; he was the failure. To which Dr Hawthorne could only reply, "What are you talking about?"
He was the heart of our little community. He was deeply humble and deeply pious and at the same time deeply earthy. He was the worst joke-teller I have ever known—he would turn beet red and mangle whatever joke he was telling long before the punchline and jab whomever sat next to him in the ribs, apparently under the theory that if humor could not induce the appropriate amount of laughter, then pain would.
He was the man who challenged a number of Wheaton students—including me—to consider devoting our lives to church ministry. He changed my life in more ways than he could ever know.
This summer I got a call from Jane, his wife, that he was ill, and it was severe. His family created a website so people could follow updates about his health; in a matter of days over 400 people had written tributes about how this skinny, humble, reticent Greek professor had changed their life.
When he died, all seven of us who had roomed together and been shaped by him 30 years ago gathered from around the country to remember, and laugh, and cry, and pray, over the man who had been our friend, who had been in the best and deepest sense of that holy word, our teacher.
I am so grateful he was in our lives, and grateful I got the chance to tell him. If you are reading this, if you are involved at all in serving the well-being of the church, you have your own Dr. Hawthorne. And it is a gift beyond words to be able to express what they have meant to you. If your Dr. Hawthorne is still alive, I strongly suggest: make a call, write an email.
I also thought, looking at the lives that Jerry touched, about what matters and what does not. It is people who count, when a life is spent. It is hearts and not resumes that get poured out before open graves. It is the reality of the Next One that makes time so precious, makes life so weighty, makes love such a gift.

Comparing the Blessings of Jacob and Esau

If you're familiar with Genesis 36, you know that it's nothing but a list of the descendents of Esau—their names, their wives, their children, their flocks, their herds. There were so many of them that they had to leave Canaan, cross the Jordan, and go to their own country called Edom (which is another name for Esau). In the ancient Near East, a man's wealth was measured in three ways: by the number of his children, his flocks and herds, and the land he possessed. Esau had all three of those things in spades. By any standard, Genesis 36 tells us that he was one of the wealthiest men who ever lived. He even had his own country! But remember what God says next about Esau: "Jacob have I loved; Esau have I hated."
Isn't that interesting? What does that tell us in Genesis 36? Why did God, through the Holy Spirit, go to the trouble of including this list of Esau's descendents that also boasts their wealth?
I think two great truths emerge from Genesis 36: (1) If this is how God treats those he really hates, he truly is a good and gracious God, and (2) you had best not mistake material blessing for spiritual blessing.
In distinction to Esau, there's Jacob, God's favoured one. What did Jacob get? He got a tent. He lived his entire life in a tent with his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham. He never had a house. They lived nomadic lives, always wandering around. Yet we live in an age of Christianity where we value Esau more than Jacob. We interpret the goodness of God more by the blessing of Esau than by the favour God bestowed on Jacob. If Esau lived today, we would put him on TV. He would sit there on the couch, and we would ask him, "Tell us how God has blessed you and how we can have it as well." Jacob wouldn't be invited to go anywhere. Nobody would want to hear his story. Can you imagine him stopping by a television studio?

Hershael York, in the sermon "The Dark Side of Grace"

This Athlete Helps Others Succeed

Most people haven't heard of the pro football running back named Tony Richardson. That's because his primary role involves helping other running backs succeed: he blocks so they can run. Over the span of seventeen pro football seasons, teams have often paired Richardson with some of the best backs in pro football. In 2001 he was slated to be the main running back, but instead he went to his teammate Priest Holmes and told him, "It's time for me to step out of the way. You need to be getting the ball. And I'm going to do everything I can to help you." Holmes went on to lead the league in rushing, but Richardson never grew envious or resentful. As Holmes would report, "He used to call me up and say, "I just saw you on SportsCenter! He was happier for me than I was for myself."
All of the running backs that Richardson helped succeed contend that his influence went beyond blocking for them. He would constantly talk to them through the game, advising, pushing, encouraging, and inspiring them. In a recent interview, Tony Richardson said, "I can't explain it, but it just means more to me to help someone else achieve glory. There's something about it that feels right to me."

Joe Posnanski, "Made to Last," Sports Illustrated (August 23, 2010), pp. 49-51

The Faithful, Un-Meteor-like Work of Bert Elliot

In January 2006, author Randy Alcorn had the opportunity to join with Jim Elliot's family for a dinner that marked the 50th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jim and four other missionaries in Ecuador. Randy writes:

There we met Jim's older brother, Bert, and his wife Colleen. In 1949, years before Jim went to Ecuador, they became missionaries to Peru. When we discussed their ministry, Bert smiled and said, "I can't wait to get back from furlough." Now in their eighties, they are in their sixtieth year as missionaries, joyfully reaching people for Christ. Until that weekend I didn't know anything about them. Bert and Colleen may enter eternity under the radar of the church at large, but not under God's ….

Bert said something to me that day that I'll never forget: "Jim and I both served Christ, but differently. Jim was a great meteor, streaking through the sky." Bert didn't go on to describe himself, but I will. Unlike his brother Jim, Bert is a faint star that rises night after night, faithfully crossing the same path in the sky to God's glory. I believe Jim Elliot's reward is considerable, but it wouldn't surprise me to discover that Bert and Colleen's will be greater still.

Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil (Multnomah, 2009), p. 421

"Invictus": The Power of Forgiveness

Invictus (2009) tells the story of how Nelson Mandela (portrayed by Morgan Freeman), in his first term as the president of South Africa, showed unconditional support and enthusiasm for the nation's mostly white rugby team in an effort to bring about reconciliation in an apartheid-torn land. But in one scene early in the film, we learn that Mandela's efforts at racial reconciliation did not stop with the rugby team. He sought opportunities for reconciliation at every turn—even in the way he put together his security team.
As this scene begins, we see five black men sitting in a small office. They comprise Mandela's security team. The leader of the team, Jason Tshabalala, says, "We need more men."
Another man asks, "Did you talk to Brenda about it?" [Brenda is Mandela's Chief of Staff.]
"Yes," Jason replies. "Yesterday."
There is a knock at the door.
Thinking it must be a secretary with the president's agenda for the day, Jason says, "Ah! That must be Jessie with the schedule. Come in, beautiful!" To the team's surprise, four white men dressed in suits enter the room.
Alarmed, Jason says, "What's this?"
"Mr. Jason Tshabalala?" one of the men says.
"That's me," Jason replies. "Am I under arrest?"
"Captain Feyder and team reporting for duty, sir."
"What duty?" Jason says.
"We're the presidential bodyguard," the man replies. "We've been assigned to this office." The man reaches into his jacket and takes out a sheet of paper. "Here are our orders."
Jason takes the sheet and scans it quickly. "You're Special Branch, right?" [During Apartheid, the Special Branch of the South African police forces was a unit designed to suppress any movements that resisted apartheid.]
Captain Feyder nods, confirming Jason's suspicions before quickly referencing once more the papers in Jason's hands: "You'll see that they've been signed."
"Well, I don't care if they are signed," Jason says. "Just wait here."
Jason exits the room and the scene shifts to a secretary opening a door for Jason that leads into Mandela's office. Mandela is seated at his desk.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," Jason says.
"You look agitated, Jason," Mandela says.
"That's because there are four Special Branch cops in my office."
"Oh? What did you do?" Mandela says.
"Nothing," Jason replies. "They say they are presidential bodyguards, and they have orders signed by you."
Jason hands the papers to Mandela.
"Ah, yes," Mandela says. "Well, these men have special training. They have lots of experience. They protected de Klerk." [F. W. de Klerk was the last president of apartheid-era South Africa.]
"Yes," Jason says, "but it doesn't mean that they have to—."
"You asked for more men, didn't you?" Mandela says, cutting Jason's comments short.
"Yes, sir," Jason says. "I asked—"
Mandela cuts him off again, saying, "When people see me in public, they see my bodyguards. You represent me directly. The rainbow nation starts here. Reconciliation starts here."
"Reconciliation, sir?"
"Yes, reconciliation, Jason."
"Comrade President," Jason says, "not long ago, these guys tried to kill us. Maybe even these four guys in my office tried. And they often succeeded."
"Yes, I know," Mandela calmly replies. "Forgiveness starts here, too. Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon. Please, Jason, try."

Elapsed time: DVD, scene 4, 00:12:13 - 00:14:38 Invictus (Warner Brothers, 2009), directed by Clint Eastwood

Imprisoned Believer's Worldview Strengthened by Time of Doubt and Hardship

In 1981, Stuart McAllister was part of a mission whose primary task was to help the church in Eastern Europe by transporting Bibles, hymn books, and Christian literature to believers.
On one occasion, while attempting to cross the border from Austria into what was then Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia, Stuart and his colleague were arrested and thrown into prison after guards discovered their concealed cargo.
Without any idea when or if he might be released—it would be a two-week confinement—Stuart's empty time and restricted space began to bring to surface feelings, questions, and doubts.
"In such circumstances," Stuart writes [in retrospect], "we are forced to face what we mean when we speak of faith. Do we have to believe in spite of the evidence to the contrary? Do we believe no matter what? How do we handle the deep and pressing questions our own minds bring as our expectations and reality do not match? For me, in my time in prison, I expected God to do certain things, and to do them in a sensible way and time. I expected that God would act fairly quickly and that I would sense his intervention. My reading of Scripture, my grasp of God's promises, my trust in the reliability of God's Word, the teaching I had received, and the message I had embraced, had led me to expect certain things, and in a particular way. When this did not occur in the way I expected, or in the timing that I thought it should, I was both confused and angry." …
Stuart continues: "Since I had never given any conscious thought to worldviews in general, or mine in particular, I was unaware how many unexamined assumptions I was living by. I did not realize how little change had penetrated my heart, and under pressure the gaps were painfully revealed and felt. From the perspective of time, I can now answer these questions meaningfully, but I needed the experience of doubt and hardship to show me how much I did not know or was not rooted in the biblical answers to these core questions. A worldview that merely answers questions intellectually is insufficient; it must also meet us existentially where we have to live."

Ravi Zacharias, Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend (Thomas Nelson, 2007), pp. 258-261

A Marriage Meltdown Turns Out for the Best

When I got home from [a] mountaintop weekend [that had changed my life, drawing me closer to Christ], I was excited to share with Nancy what had happened. This was the very thing that for many years she had desperately wanted and prayed for. In the years since she had invited Christ into her life on the side of the canyon, she had been praying for me every day.
Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick," and I believe that must have been what happened. I think Nancy was recovering form a sick heart after all those years of not having her prayers answered concerning me. For so long she had wanted me to become the spiritual leader of our home, and when it was about to happen, I think it was kind of a letdown for her. At first, she was elated, but her happiness soon turned to anger. She got mad and over the next couple of weeks, her anger became visible. I couldn't understand what was happening, and I remember wondering if receiving the Lord was such a good idea. I started to question everything about faith and this stimulated real and honest prayer—for the first time in my life.
It was during this time one Sunday after church that everything came to a head. Our younger daughter, Katie, had gone to the home of some friends. The rest of us headed home for lunch, and our three-year-old son, Brook, went down for a nap. We had just met a new older couple at church that morning and had invited them to drop by later that day. Everything seemed fine until something snapped, and a fight between Nancy and me began. I don't know what started it or even what it was about, but I do remember it escalating rapidly. All at once everything came out—all of Nancy's anger and all of my frustration erupted, causing Nancy to pick up a pottery mug and hurl it at me across the room. I was able to duck quickly, and the mug missed me and smashed through the window of the front door.
As only fate would have it, the couple we invited from church arrived and were walking up the front steps at that very moment. They ducked and evaded the flying mug but decided it was not the best time to visit the Robinsons. They turned on their heels and headed for their car.
I was embarrassed and humiliated, and I lost it like I have never lost it before or since. I started yelling and hitting walls and cupboards. Framed pictures and dishes fell to the floor. I went from room to room turning over furniture and shouting in complete frustration. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make Nancy satisfied with our life, and I didn't know what I could do about it. In the wake of this realisation, I fell apart.
All my life I had prided myself on being composed and put together; I always felt that showing emotion was a sign of weakness. That day God tore down everything I leaned on for strength. He was showing me that without him I would never be the person he created me to be. I needed him to be more than my Savior—I needed him to be the Lord of my life. That day I learned in my confession of weakness that he would make me strong (see 2 Cor. 12:10).
As I surveyed the aftermath of my rage, I saw my three-year-old son staring at me with huge, frightened eyes. I will never forget how he looked as he stood there in shock and disbelief. That's when it happened—that's when I finally broke. My deep frustration turned to tears, and the floodgates opened. I started to weep in a way I never had before. Tears welled up from the depths of my being, and my entire body started to convulse. I cried and cried and couldn't stop the tears. I cried for a whole life of pain and frustration, most of which Nancy had nothing to do with. I was broken in a way I can't fully express, but it was a brokenness that forever changed me. I held my son and Nancy held me, and together we cried and prayed. We repented for the way we had treated each other and together asked God to take control of our lives.
It was a divine moment in our marriage and a divine moment in our life with God. I believe it was the moment the seed of God's love and truth penetrated my life. It was a turning point, more powerful than any other I have ever experienced. My journey with God entered into the depths of good soil—to a place where my spiritual roots penetrated his provision for healing and wholeness. Not only did my relationship with God heal, my relationship with my wife changed as well. I could now love because I had come into the assurance that I was first loved.

Tri Robinson, Rooted in Good Soil (Baker, 2010), pp. 38-40

How the Bible Differs from a Golf Yardage Book

Have you ever watched professional golfers and been awed by their ability to land a shot from two hundred yards away just a few yards from the hole? You wonder how they can judge the distance to the hole with such precision. Do they have an internal GPS system that enables them to guess the distances on the course with uncanny accuracy?
Not really. What they have is a yardage book. A yardage book is a map of each hole on the course that gives distances from various landmarks on the hole to the green. Decades ago Arnold Palmer and his caddy began drawing rough yardage charts with little pictures of trees, fairways, greens, sand traps and such of the various holes on all the courses they played. Jack Nicklaus was the pro who really made yardage books popular. Today along with the maps many pro golfers will keep what essentially is a personal journal of how they have played each hole of the course, what clubs they have used from various distances, what the wind was doing, and so on, and what happened to their shots.
Golfers swear by their yardage books. Zach Johnson, winner of the 2010 Colonial, says, "I feel naked without it out there. It's my golf bible."
Steve Marino says, "You see what you did in the past, you make sure you have the right number and then trust all of it, because the room for error is nil."
Scott Vail, caddie for Brandt Snedeker, says, "There are huge ramifications if you are just even 1 yard off."
One former caddie, George Lucas, has made a business out of driving the country and charting distances of some 1,000 golf courses and publishing his data in a book that is now available to the public.
Wouldn't it be nice to have yardage books for the tough decisions we make in life? Should I date this person or not? Should I go to this or that school? Should we buy this house? In our technological age, we want specifics. We want everything mapped out. We want to remove all the uncertainties from life. We want to be able to use our past experiences to predict exactly what will happen in the future. But God hasn't chosen to work with us in that way. He has given us an essential book of guidance that we can't do without, but we still have to use judgment in how to apply what it teaches. Most important, we need to be walking with God in prayer and trust.

Steve DiMeglio, "Before ball, they hit book," USA Today (1 June 2010)

Paradox

Know then, proud one, what a paradox you are to yourself. Humble yourself, impotent reason. Be silent, dull-witted nature, and learn from your Master your true condition, which you do not understand. Listen to God! See the Earth as a point compared with the vast circles it describes. Stand amazed that this circle itself is only a tiny point in relation to the course traced by the stars revolving in the firmament; that the whole visible world is no more than an imperceptible speck in the ample bosom of nature

- Blaise Pascal

Eternity

Eternity is not about unending life as we know it; what we know here will soon be over. Eternity is a new life, free of death’s destructive powers, a fullness of life where love reigns supreme. The promise of everlasting life has less to do with duration of time and more to do with a certain kind of life – one of peace, fellowship, and abundance – and such a life can begin now…God wants to welcome us all into his kingdom, but we need to begin working toward that here in our earthly lives. Such an attitude, or way of life, could be called “living before eternity,” where our hearts and minds prepare for the next world, even as we bodily exist in this world

- Johann Christoph Arnold

The Last Three Wishes of Alexander the Great

Just before he died, Alexander convened his generals and told them his last three wishes:

1. That his coffin should be carried on the shoulders and transported by the best doctors of the time.
2. That the treasures he had conquered (silver, gold, precious stones), should be scattered on the path to the grave site, and ...
3. That his hands should be dangling in the air, outside of the coffin, and in view of all.

One of his generals, astonished by these quite unusual desires, asked Alexander about his reasons. Alexander explained to him:

1. I want the most eminent doctors from the land to load my coffin to show that they did not have the power to heal in the face of death.
2. I want the ground to be covered by my treasures for all to see that material goods conquered here, cannot be taken, so, also remain here.
3. I want my hands to be swaying in the wind, so that people can see that just as we came here with empty hands, we leave too with empty hands, when we are ending the most valuable treasure, which is our time.

When dying you can take no material with you,

"Time" is the most precious treasure that we have because

It is limited. We can produce more money, but not more time ...

When we dedicate time to a person, we are giving him a portion of our life that we can never recover, our time is our life

The best gift you can give someone is your time and

Always give it to your family or a good friend.

source unknown

Puzzle Shows Our Need to Slow Down and Pay Attention

In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, the Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman uses a simple puzzle to show the importance of slowing down and paying attention. Kahneman writes, "Do not try to solve [this puzzle] but listen to your intuition:

A bat and a ball cost $1.10.
The bat costs one dollar more than the ball.
How much does the ball cost?"

Kahneman writes that most people come up with a quick answer—10 cents.

The distinctive mark of this easy puzzle is that it evokes an answer that is intuitive, appealing, and wrong. Do the math, and you'll see. If the ball costs 10 cents, then the total cost will be $1.20 (10 cents for the ball and $1.10 for the bat), not $1.10. The correct answer is 5 cents.

If you got the puzzle wrong, don't be discouraged. According to Kahneman's research, more than 50 percent of students at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton gave the wrong answer. At less selective universities, over 80 percent of students failed the puzzle.

Kahneman notes that solving this puzzle doesn't depend on intelligence as much as it depends on our willingness to slow down, focus intently, and pay attention.

Throughout the Bible and the history of the church, many writers have also emphasized how important it is to slow down, focus intently, and pay attention in our walk with Christ. But as Kahneman's research proves, paying attention often doesn't come naturally to us. We have to work at paying attention.

Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2011), pp. 44-45

Ten Commandments for the Long Haul

1. Call on Jesus when all else fails. Call on Him when all else succeeds (except that never happens).
2. Don't be afraid to be afraid or appalled to be appalled. How do you think the trees feel these days, or the whales, or, for that matter, most humans?
3. Keep your soul to yourself. Soul is a possession worth paying for, they're growing rarer. Learn from monks, they have secrets worth knowing.
4. About practically everything in the world, there's nothing you can do. This is Socratic wisdom. However, about of few things you can do something. Do it, with a good heart.
5. On a long drive, there's bound to be a dull stretch or two. Don't go anywhere with someone who expects you to be interesting all the time. And don't be hard on your fellow travelers. Try to smile after a coffee stop.
6. Practically no one has the stomach to love you, if you don't love yourself. They just endure. So do you.
7. About healing: The gospels tell us that this was Jesus' specialty and he was heard to say: "Take up your couch and walk!"
8. When traveling on an airplane, watch the movie, but don't use the earphones. Then you'll be able to see what's going on, but not understand what's happening, and so you'll feel right at home, little different then you do on the ground.
9. Know that sometimes the only writing material you have is your own blood.
10. Start with the impossible. Proceed calmly towards the improbable. No worry, there are at least five exits.

extract from Ten Commandments for the Long Haul by Daniel Berrigan

Observing a Mellow, Domesticated Christmas

When the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci went to China in the sixteenth century, he brought along samples of religious art to illustrate the Christian story for people who had never heard it. The Chinese readily adopted portraits of the Virgin Mary holding her child, but when he produced paintings of the crucifixion and tried to explain that the God-child had grown up only to be executed, the audience reacted with revulsion and horror. They much preferred the Virgin and insisted on worshiping her rather than the crucified God.
As I thumb…through my stack of Christmas cards, I realise that we in Christian countries do much the same thing. We observe a mellow, domesticated holiday purged of any hint of scandal. Above all, we purge from it any reminder of how the story that began in Bethlehem turned out at Calvary.

Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Zondervan, 2002), p. 25

The Statue in Washington D.C. That Nobody Notices — But Should

In The Masculine Mandate: God's Calling to Men, author Richard Phillips shows us that behind every great man in history is a humble person who helped make that man great. Phillips writes:
There are two statues in Washington D.C. that together tell a remarkable story. One is the massive memorial to General Ulysses S. Grant that stands at the east end of the Reflecting Pool, literally in the morning shadow of the U. S. Capitol building. Visitors can hardly miss this majestic depiction of the legendary general atop his war stallion. Grant's military leadership was decisive to the Union's victory in the Civil War, and he is considered a symbol of the force of human will, an icon of the strong man who stands against the storm when all others have shrunk back.
Some two-and-a-half miles away, in a pleasant but nondescript city park, stands a more commonplace memorial. The statue of this lesser-known Civil War figure, Major General John Rawlins, has actually had eight different locations and is hardly ever noticed by visitors. Rawlins had been a lawyer in Galena, Illinois, where Grant lived just prior to the war, and he became Grant's chief of staff. Rawlins knew Grant's character flaws, especially his weakness for alcohol. At the beginning of the war, Rawlins extracted a pledge from Grant to abstain from drunkenness, and when the general threatened to fall away from that promise, his friend would plead with him and support him until Grant could get back on track. In many ways, it was Rawlins who stood beside the seemingly solitary figure of Grant the great general. Rawlins' memorial is modest compared to the mounted glory afforded Grant, yet without his unheralded love and support, Grant would hardly have managed even to climb into the saddle.

Richard D. Phillips, The Masculine Mandate (Reformation Trust, 2010), pp. 121-122

True Peace

True peace is not merely a lofty cause that can be taken up and pursued by good intentions. Nor is it something to be simply had or bought. Peace demands struggle. It is found by taking up the fundamental battles of life: life versus death, good versus evil, truth versus falsehood. Yes, it is a gift, but it is also the result of the most intense striving…Genuine peace – the peace of God – disrupts false relationships, disturbs wrongful systems, and debunks the lies that promise a false peace. It uproots the seeds of unpeace.
God’s peace does not automatically include inner tranquility, the absence of conflict, or other, worldly estimations of peace. As we can see from the life of Christ, it was precisely by his rejection of the world and its peace that his perfect peace was established. And this peace was rooted in his acceptance of the most harrowing self-sacrifice imaginable: death on a cross. Many of us who call ourselves Christians today have forgotten this, if not willfully blinded ourselves to it. We want peace, but we want it on our own terms. We want an easy peace. Yet peace cannot come quickly or easily if it is to have any genuine staying power.

Johann Christoph Arnold