My sister Jen is pregnant. Praise God! It's really exciting. I can't wait to be an uncle. It's going to be awesome. They just found out last week so I'm assuming I won't be an uncle until the end of the year, but I'm really looking forward to it. Anyway, please keep her and my brother-in-law in prayer. Pray for a healthy baby and that nothing goes wrong during the pregnancy and that God would prepare them for having a child. See what the Lord has wrought! May God truly bless them and the child.
I'm going to be an uncle!!!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
We Won!
My church volleyball team just won our first volleyball match...that is our first legitimate win. Our first win was against an undermanned team with a 10-year old and a guy with a crippled hand. In that match I served us to a 21-0 lead in the first game. It was pretty harsh. But tonight, in our last match of the season, we won a nail biter to pull out our first legitimate victory. Now on to the tounament!
A brief overview of Judges and Ruth
While I was in California I finished reading through Judges and Ruth and wrote this short overview of the two books in an effort to think through them in light of the redemptive work of Christ throughout all of human history.
In Judges we see the nation of Israel constantly fall into sin, come under the oppressive rule of their enemies, cry out to God for salvation, and God provide a savior for the nation in the form of warrior judges. In Judges we find warning for us about the danger of falling away, allowing sin to remain in our lives, the danger of pride and the need for humility, our own propensity to falling away, and our desperate need for a Savior. We cannot save ourselves from our sins. We need a Savior to free us. In Judges we see a variety of saviors. We see God calling many from unexpected places or backgrounds (e.g. Gideon) and all are flawed (perhaps none shown to be more vividly than Samson). In these men we see the foreshadowing of Christ and also the imperfection of human salvation and the inability of men to bring about total, complete, and perfect salvation. These men only brought, at most, 40 years of peace. These imperfections and inabilities point and direct our hope toward the perfect and holy Savior, Jesus Christ. This is why I don't believe Judges is meant to be read apart from Ruth.
In Ruth, we see the provision of our perfect Savior. In this book Ruth is a picture of the church (saved from a totally sinful background to live a life of purity and worship to the true God) and Boaz is a picture of Christ (our humble Redeemer who takes our salvation on his own shoulders and accomplishes all our hopes). From this humble background came the lineage of Christ. It is a very humble story. Christ comes not from a family of greatness or means, but from a Moabite woman of pagan background - not even an Isrealite by birth - and a humble, older, land-owner - not a warrior - from a tiny town that just came out of a devestating famine. The story of redemption does not come from where man would anticipate it but finds its roots in a humble beginning - much like the story of the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus. Jesus is constantly a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are being saved the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of salvation.
In Judges we see the nation of Israel constantly fall into sin, come under the oppressive rule of their enemies, cry out to God for salvation, and God provide a savior for the nation in the form of warrior judges. In Judges we find warning for us about the danger of falling away, allowing sin to remain in our lives, the danger of pride and the need for humility, our own propensity to falling away, and our desperate need for a Savior. We cannot save ourselves from our sins. We need a Savior to free us. In Judges we see a variety of saviors. We see God calling many from unexpected places or backgrounds (e.g. Gideon) and all are flawed (perhaps none shown to be more vividly than Samson). In these men we see the foreshadowing of Christ and also the imperfection of human salvation and the inability of men to bring about total, complete, and perfect salvation. These men only brought, at most, 40 years of peace. These imperfections and inabilities point and direct our hope toward the perfect and holy Savior, Jesus Christ. This is why I don't believe Judges is meant to be read apart from Ruth.
In Ruth, we see the provision of our perfect Savior. In this book Ruth is a picture of the church (saved from a totally sinful background to live a life of purity and worship to the true God) and Boaz is a picture of Christ (our humble Redeemer who takes our salvation on his own shoulders and accomplishes all our hopes). From this humble background came the lineage of Christ. It is a very humble story. Christ comes not from a family of greatness or means, but from a Moabite woman of pagan background - not even an Isrealite by birth - and a humble, older, land-owner - not a warrior - from a tiny town that just came out of a devestating famine. The story of redemption does not come from where man would anticipate it but finds its roots in a humble beginning - much like the story of the incarnation, life, and death of Jesus. Jesus is constantly a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are being saved the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of salvation.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Some free time
I actually got home before nine tonight and have some spare time. Can you believe it? I know I can't. I pretty much don't know what to do with myself, so I figured I'd try my hand at a little blogging tonight. Not too much of interest is going on so it will probably be a short one. While I was in California a couple weeks ago, I was actually able to go to a Christian bookstore. For those out of state, that might not seem like an even worth noting, but when there hasn't been a Christian bookstore around here for over a year and Barnes & Noble has the best Christian selection around, the opportunity to visit a real, live Christian bookstore is pretty cool. We went to the Calvary Chapel school store because my brother-in-law needed to get some stuff from there and talk to the people in the office and get some transcript stuff taken care of. While there, I picked up Derek Webb's cd "One Zero" which has a bunch of acoustic stuff on it. Suffice to say, it is a really good cd. I think his song "Wedding Dress" is one of my all-time favorites. It's amazing. I love the lyrics and the music. It's all really good. I even know how to play it to a degree, so I'm really loving it.
Starting last week, I'm teaching the junior-highers on Wednesday night. For those who don't know, our church is a church plant and we join our youth groups on Wednesdays. Up until now, I had been helping out with the high-schoolers, but now I'm teaching the junior-highers. I decided (on Kellen's suggestion) to go through Titus. So far it's been a blessing and I hope the kids are getting a lot out of it (I can never really tell if they're completely listening). But I'm really excited to go through that. So this is my weekly schedule for anybody interested:
Sunday - I get to the church by 8 to set up for worship, and I teach youth Sunday school (we're going through I John - it's awesome)
Monday - House church at 6:30 (what my church calls small groups)
Tuesday - Bible Study with Nino. I get to his house between 5:30 and 6
Wednesday - Youth Group. I get to the church by 4, lead worship and teach junior-highers
Thursday - Worship practice at 7 or volleyball around 6:30
Friday - A free night!!! (except not this Friday because I'm helping the youth with a worship night)
Saturday - My Sabbath!! I usually hang out with friends, try to do some reading, and go over my lesson for Sunday
Combined with a 40 hour work week, I'm pretty tired. But it's really good. God's really teaching me discipline and how to redeem the time I have. However, that being said, I'm seriously contemplating cutting out some of those responsibilities. I'm really starting to feel like I spend all of my time doing Christianity and not nearly enough time being a Christian. I feel like I'm becoming shallower in my walk and not communing with God nearly enough. If you wouldn't mind, I could really use some prayer about this. I don't want to cut anything out, but this might be one of those holy ambition things (John Piper on Romans 15:18-24 - great sermon) where I have to stop doing something I like doing in order to really devote myself to what God has called me. Add on top of that, I'm looking at renting a place with one of the college guys at my church and if that happens I would like to start a Bible study/fellowship time for whoever would want to come. I think I might be on the verge of foolishness with how thinly I'm spreading myself. I'm hoping that the feeling of becoming shallower as a Christian is more of a desire to go even deeper with Christ than an actual lessening of the depth of my relationship with him. But I fear that may only be a wish than reality. I think I'm in one of those states where I'm running so fast I never take the time to slow down and marvel at who God is and what he's done. Either way, I could use some prayer. The next few months don't look like they're slowing down anytime soon. But at least summer looks like it might be a bit more laid back.
To the only wise God be glory and honor
Starting last week, I'm teaching the junior-highers on Wednesday night. For those who don't know, our church is a church plant and we join our youth groups on Wednesdays. Up until now, I had been helping out with the high-schoolers, but now I'm teaching the junior-highers. I decided (on Kellen's suggestion) to go through Titus. So far it's been a blessing and I hope the kids are getting a lot out of it (I can never really tell if they're completely listening). But I'm really excited to go through that. So this is my weekly schedule for anybody interested:
Sunday - I get to the church by 8 to set up for worship, and I teach youth Sunday school (we're going through I John - it's awesome)
Monday - House church at 6:30 (what my church calls small groups)
Tuesday - Bible Study with Nino. I get to his house between 5:30 and 6
Wednesday - Youth Group. I get to the church by 4, lead worship and teach junior-highers
Thursday - Worship practice at 7 or volleyball around 6:30
Friday - A free night!!! (except not this Friday because I'm helping the youth with a worship night)
Saturday - My Sabbath!! I usually hang out with friends, try to do some reading, and go over my lesson for Sunday
Combined with a 40 hour work week, I'm pretty tired. But it's really good. God's really teaching me discipline and how to redeem the time I have. However, that being said, I'm seriously contemplating cutting out some of those responsibilities. I'm really starting to feel like I spend all of my time doing Christianity and not nearly enough time being a Christian. I feel like I'm becoming shallower in my walk and not communing with God nearly enough. If you wouldn't mind, I could really use some prayer about this. I don't want to cut anything out, but this might be one of those holy ambition things (John Piper on Romans 15:18-24 - great sermon) where I have to stop doing something I like doing in order to really devote myself to what God has called me. Add on top of that, I'm looking at renting a place with one of the college guys at my church and if that happens I would like to start a Bible study/fellowship time for whoever would want to come. I think I might be on the verge of foolishness with how thinly I'm spreading myself. I'm hoping that the feeling of becoming shallower as a Christian is more of a desire to go even deeper with Christ than an actual lessening of the depth of my relationship with him. But I fear that may only be a wish than reality. I think I'm in one of those states where I'm running so fast I never take the time to slow down and marvel at who God is and what he's done. Either way, I could use some prayer. The next few months don't look like they're slowing down anytime soon. But at least summer looks like it might be a bit more laid back.
To the only wise God be glory and honor
Monday, March 17, 2008
My Grandma Prissy - at home in glory
I know this is a long time in coming. I've been thinking about writing something on her for a while and I don't have much time tonight, but I want to post the things I said about her at her funeral and a few extra thoughts. She died March 1, at about 2:20 in the morning with almost all of her family surrounding her as she drew her last breath. She died of liver cancer which I'm sure was exacerbated by a very large stroke she suffered about a week prior to her passing.
"One of the things I remember most about Grandma is visiting at Christmas singing hymns, performing little skits based around Biblical themes, and reading Bible verses at Christmas time when we came to visit. We used to have to read and memorize a section of verses she picked out for each grandchild and be able to recite them back to her by the end of the evening. If we could do it perfectly she would give us a dollar. Needless to say, we were all very motivated to memorize our verses. The hymn I remember singing most was “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” Growing up I used to think that was her favorite hymn because we would sing it every year. Looking back on it now, I think that hymn really summarized a great deal of who Grandma was. She was a constant evangelist who sought to share her joy in the Lord with everyone around her. She would always be telling it on the mountain and proclaiming the life and death of Jesus to all who were around her. She was very involved in missions and loved to here about the spread of the gospel. I remember talking to her on the phone when I became head of my church’s missions committee. She was so excited that I was involved in something like that. It really was the beat of her heart. She longed to see people come to Jesus.
Most of all, I remember how much she loved God’s word. Even up to last Christmas, when we received a Christmas letter, it always contained the verses she was memorizing and praying over for the coming year. When we talked if there was something going on in our lives she had a verse ready for it and could usually provide the reference. I remember eating breakfast with her and reading verses during the meal. This was a daily routine with her and she loved seeing God in the word. I think more than anyone else in my life, she demonstrated how to redeem the time (Eph. 5). I know she was very driven to not waste her life and the best way she knew how to do that was to spend as much time in the word as she could and spread that word to everyone she knew. Her life was not wasted and I pray that I too could have the same drive and passion to serve and love our Lord Jesus Christ. I can’t wait until I see you again with our new bodies and a perfect ability to see and love and worship Jesus for all eternity."
I praise God that we were able to get down to California before she died and were able to say our last goodbyes. There were so many images from that last week that I hope stay burned in my mind. I remember one of her pastors coming by to see her. She had just had a stroke and her responses were very limited. She couldn't really say anything, and if she opened her eyes she didn't really see you. It was as though she was looking past you. But he opened his Bible and read Psalm 61 to her and she physically leaned closer to him as though she were straining to hear every last syllable of the verses. She loved the Bible and she especially loved the Psalms. She made a habit of reading five Psalms everyday and almost every Psalm had something marked in it or underlined.
I also remember watching my grandpa during her last moments in her earthly tent. He spoke so tenderly to her and was so very gentle and patient. I know his heart was breaking, but he tried not to show it. I think of all the things that break my heart, and it's thinking of my grandpa and his pain and lonliness that make me cry the most. They never showed much affection in front of us, so I never knew, experientially, how much they loved each other until her last week.
But I think the most vivid picture burned in my mind is the light above her bed. It was a long, rectangular light and it diffused and shielded the light of three bulbs inside of it. I didn't really think much of the light until her last day, when a nurse flipped open the front cover and exposed the lights so that she could have enough light to see by. It was at that moment that I realized that light was just like my grandma. On the outside, she definitely emanated a lot of light and everybody knew how much she loved God. But the light she displayed was nothing compared to the true intensity of the light that was eagerly waiting for the moment when it would be unbound and show forth it's true glory for all eternity. The true light was Jesus inside of her and we only saw the portion that was diffused by all this flesh and sin. It still shines, but not like it will once we are freed. Right now that light is shining forth with all the glory that belongs to God Himself. Right now she is shining in a way that could never be imagine on this earth. Throughout that week, my thoughts kept coming back to one verse I think that light really illustrated to me - the end of Colossians 1:27: "Christ in me, the hope of glory." Your hope has been realized Grandma. Run with Him with all the joy imaginable. I'll see you soon.
"One of the things I remember most about Grandma is visiting at Christmas singing hymns, performing little skits based around Biblical themes, and reading Bible verses at Christmas time when we came to visit. We used to have to read and memorize a section of verses she picked out for each grandchild and be able to recite them back to her by the end of the evening. If we could do it perfectly she would give us a dollar. Needless to say, we were all very motivated to memorize our verses. The hymn I remember singing most was “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” Growing up I used to think that was her favorite hymn because we would sing it every year. Looking back on it now, I think that hymn really summarized a great deal of who Grandma was. She was a constant evangelist who sought to share her joy in the Lord with everyone around her. She would always be telling it on the mountain and proclaiming the life and death of Jesus to all who were around her. She was very involved in missions and loved to here about the spread of the gospel. I remember talking to her on the phone when I became head of my church’s missions committee. She was so excited that I was involved in something like that. It really was the beat of her heart. She longed to see people come to Jesus.
Most of all, I remember how much she loved God’s word. Even up to last Christmas, when we received a Christmas letter, it always contained the verses she was memorizing and praying over for the coming year. When we talked if there was something going on in our lives she had a verse ready for it and could usually provide the reference. I remember eating breakfast with her and reading verses during the meal. This was a daily routine with her and she loved seeing God in the word. I think more than anyone else in my life, she demonstrated how to redeem the time (Eph. 5). I know she was very driven to not waste her life and the best way she knew how to do that was to spend as much time in the word as she could and spread that word to everyone she knew. Her life was not wasted and I pray that I too could have the same drive and passion to serve and love our Lord Jesus Christ. I can’t wait until I see you again with our new bodies and a perfect ability to see and love and worship Jesus for all eternity."
I praise God that we were able to get down to California before she died and were able to say our last goodbyes. There were so many images from that last week that I hope stay burned in my mind. I remember one of her pastors coming by to see her. She had just had a stroke and her responses were very limited. She couldn't really say anything, and if she opened her eyes she didn't really see you. It was as though she was looking past you. But he opened his Bible and read Psalm 61 to her and she physically leaned closer to him as though she were straining to hear every last syllable of the verses. She loved the Bible and she especially loved the Psalms. She made a habit of reading five Psalms everyday and almost every Psalm had something marked in it or underlined.
I also remember watching my grandpa during her last moments in her earthly tent. He spoke so tenderly to her and was so very gentle and patient. I know his heart was breaking, but he tried not to show it. I think of all the things that break my heart, and it's thinking of my grandpa and his pain and lonliness that make me cry the most. They never showed much affection in front of us, so I never knew, experientially, how much they loved each other until her last week.
But I think the most vivid picture burned in my mind is the light above her bed. It was a long, rectangular light and it diffused and shielded the light of three bulbs inside of it. I didn't really think much of the light until her last day, when a nurse flipped open the front cover and exposed the lights so that she could have enough light to see by. It was at that moment that I realized that light was just like my grandma. On the outside, she definitely emanated a lot of light and everybody knew how much she loved God. But the light she displayed was nothing compared to the true intensity of the light that was eagerly waiting for the moment when it would be unbound and show forth it's true glory for all eternity. The true light was Jesus inside of her and we only saw the portion that was diffused by all this flesh and sin. It still shines, but not like it will once we are freed. Right now that light is shining forth with all the glory that belongs to God Himself. Right now she is shining in a way that could never be imagine on this earth. Throughout that week, my thoughts kept coming back to one verse I think that light really illustrated to me - the end of Colossians 1:27: "Christ in me, the hope of glory." Your hope has been realized Grandma. Run with Him with all the joy imaginable. I'll see you soon.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Sorrowful yet rejoicing
I know it's been a while since I last posted. As of right now I'm sitting in a coffee shop in California. I've been down here for the past eight days (in California, not the coffee shop). I'm here right now because a little more than a week ago, my family got a call saying my grandma had had a stroke and was unresponsive and wouldn't last long. So we all jumped in a couple of cars Sunday afternoon and made it down here by Monday afternoon. By the grace of God, my grandma hung on until last Saturday when she went home to be with the Lord at 2:22 am Saturday morning. She was surrounded by most of her family and she died peacefully. She was a strong Christian woman and I look forward to the day when we will meet again as we perfectly worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There has been a lot of good time reflecting, rejoicing, and grieving with family down here and I'll probably post some reflections when we get home to Utah. The funeral is tomorrow and we'll be driving home Thursday if the Lord wills. Pray that God would be glorified tomorrow as we remember the life of my grandma. She influenced a great number of people and definitely leaves a legacy of an unwasted life seeking the face of God as revealed in his word and constantly offering up prayers for her family, friends, and missions endeavors. Until the next time, sorrowful yet always rejoicing.
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
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